An Overview of Manushi's Endeavours for Policy Reform for Street Vendors and Rickshaw Pullers >> Manushi Journal, Manushi Sangathan, Manushi Magazine

Policies Sans Implementation Plans

Despite Supreme Court judgments requiring that each city set up hawking zones, no city government has yet taken concrete steps to implement this policy. The situation deteriorated further after the adoption of the National Policy for Street Vendors by the Central Government in January 2004.

Reasons offered by officials for non-action on this issue:

1)	Hawkers bring chaos, squalor and cause obstructions for other road users.

2)	Legalizing their existence will mean rewarding illegal encroachments on “ government land”.

3)	Such old fashioned bazaars ought to be got rid of and replaced with modern shopping complexes.

•	Cities will be flooded with vendors if life is made easier for them in cities. So many vendors cannot be accommodated without causing a total civic breakdown.