Dr Sania Nishtar criticises govt after street vendor carts destroyed in Islamabad

Dr Sania Nishtar, who served as the Special Assistant of the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tenure, has criticised the incumbent government after several street vendor carts were destroyed in an apparent move to end the Ehsaas Rehribaan initiative.

In an op-ed published in The News on Tuesday, Dr Nishtar, the brainchild of the previous government’s Ehsaas initiative, lashed out over the Islamabad’s administration’s “cruel and unwarranted” act.

“At a time when households are struggling due to record inflation, destroying street vendors’ source of income is cruel and unwarranted, and the resulting loss of government revenue is unjustifiable,” she wrote.

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“The city administration must immediately cease this senseless destruction of property in the name of anti-encroachment. Both the city administration as well as the ministry must compensate these vendors for the damage and reinstate their licences. The poor must not become collateral damage amidst political rivalries,” she added.

Launched in 2021, Ehsaas’s Rehribaan Initiative was a collaborative street vending initiative, aimed to create an enabling environment for vendors in Islamabad.

Under the umbrella of Ehsaas, model vending carts with eco-friendly structures were handed over to a select number of existing vendors in the capital city.

The initiative was a collaboration between the Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety Division (PASSD), Capital Development Authority (CDA), Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), ICT Administration and Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).

“Street vendors can contribute significantly by generating employment and providing a livelihood for low-income households; they serve as a marketplace for low-cost merchandise helping those with limited incomes,” wrote Dr Nishtar.

The senator added that in Islamabad alone, 20,000 vendors can generate Rs480 million in government revenues and an annual turnover in the range of Rs36-43 billion.

She added that the results of the pilot Ehsaas Rehribaan initiative “were remarkable”.

“With over 200 street carts placed across four commercial areas in Islamabad, vending licence fees generated revenue worth Rs4.8 million for the city government. The initiative stimulated capital investment of over Rs20 million and monthly turnover of around Rs30 million. Dozens of jobs were created as the street vendors hired staff to help operate their businesses,” she wrote.

Earlier, PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan also slammed the incumbent government, criticising it for demolishing the street vendor carts.

“At a time of rising inflation and unemployment this ‘imported government’ showed its callousness again by demolishing street vendor carts in Islamabad’s I-10 sector provided by our government under Ehsaas Rehriban programme,” Imran Khan tweeted.

“Condemnable inhumane act deliberately targeting the poor and vulnerable,” he added.