Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) Commissioner H.M. Dhyanachandra has instructed officials to complete the ongoing survey to identify all street vendors in the VMC limits within two days and submit a report.
Participating in the survey in the city on Thursday, the commissioner interacted with a vendor and reviewed the 45 points mentioned in the questionnaire in the survey. Upon completion of the survey, all identified street vendors will be issued an identity card.
The initiative follows the recent meeting of the 19-member Town Vending Committee held after a gap of three to four years. A decision has been taken to divide the streets into three zones— red, amber, and green zones—as per the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
The survey, which began on May 13, is the first since 2018. According to information from the VMC, the last survey identified 17,282 street vendors. The present survey aims to identify how many of those vendors are still active and if any new person has come in their place.
As many as 286 welfare secretaries are participating in the survey, and three zonal commissioners are closely supervising it. The process is also expected to ease traffic congestion, especially on Besant Road, where shop owners allege that there has been an increase in vendors recently, narrowing the already congested street and leading to traffic disruptions.
Published – May 15, 2025 11:46 pm IST
