Noida: Rent paid & space allotted, but vendors are yet to free up roads

NOIDA: The Noida Authority’s vending zone policy, which was aimed at bringing down congestion and make the city’s roads encroachment-free, is yet to take shape on the ground.

Launched in December 2019, the Noida Authority had identified 4,200 vendors and hawkers across the city for the survey. It had asked vendors to pay charges for six months upfront and after that, pay a monthly rent to carry on with their business.

Of the total, 3,600 vendors filled registration forms in December 2019. However, only 2,600 vendors came forward and paid the registration amount to the Authority, following which, zones were marked in some residential sectors.

The monthly rent is to be collected in three categories — Rs 1,800, Rs 2,400 and Rs 3,000 — depending on the area where the shop is allocated.

Even after paying the registration charges and submitting the required documents, the hawkers and vendors in the city have been waiting for a clear cut direction on the way forward. The Noida Authority has also not been able to curb encroachment from the roadside due to the apprehensions among the vendors.

Chunnu Pandey, a member of the town vending committee that coordinates with Authority officials on behalf of the members, said that the space allocated to the vendors is not feasible to conduct business.

“We have also asked the Authority to make a pool of vendors with different businesses before allocating them space. Due to the wrong approach, dozens of tea shops owners, pan shops owners, sandwich stall operators have been allocated space in the same vending zone. If 30 pan and tea shops are present in the same cluster next to each other, it is going to be difficult for them to survive,” Pandey said.

Over the past one year, the Authority has been able to award space to around 350 vendors and vending zones were made operational in Sectors 2, 4 and 50. In Sectors 16A, 17, 18, 19, 21, 26, 32, 37, 38, 36, 41, 44, 76 and 95, the zones are either located in an isolated place or near a drain.

The Authority plans to regulate illegal hawkers and once the new system is in place, drives will be conducted against vendors.

However, Santosh Kumar, a tea stall owner in Sector 16A, said that before this is done, their problems need to be resolved. “Else, we will be in a difficult situation even after paying the registration charges and rent,” he said.

Meanwhile, Indu Prakash Singh, an officer on special duty with the Noida Authority, said that because of the pandemic, their plans got disrupted.

“Implementing any new system takes time. Also, due to the pandemic, our plans and timeline got disrupted. A meeting of the committee is scheduled next week and all the issues will be taken up then. We are only taking monthly rent from vendors who have been given space,” Singh said.