LAHORE: The caretaker Punjab government was launching a pilot project in the provincial capital for providing modern-design carts to street vendors free of cost with the cooperation of philanthropists and welfare organizations.
In this connection, caretaker Punjab Local Government Minister Ibrahim Murad chaired a meeting here on Friday. On this occasion, he said that a dignified and safe environment to earn a living was the fundamental right of street vendors and peddlers.
“For giving legal protection to their business, registration of carts should be done and necessary legislation should be made to issue business license to vendors. Registration of carts and issuance of number plates to them would enhance the respect of street vendors and create a sense of security among them,” he added.
He averred that a special survey should be conducted to determine the exact number of street vendors and carts in the provincial capital and suitable places should be identified for creating special zones for them.
He directed the department to set up modern design carts in certain areas of the city similar to the developed countries where food items and other essential goods would be sold. “This project would protect the cart owner’s against extortion and blackmailing of various government officials while payment of nominal annual government fee would also benefit the public exchequer,” he added.
He emphasized the need for a holistic legal framework to legalize and provide vending licenses to street hawkers in Punjab. He also directed the department to conduct consultative sessions with relevant stakeholders to launch the pilot project, which aims to provide safe and hygienic areas to street vendors. He further identified the urgent need to conduct a comprehensive survey of street hawkers in Lahore and identify areas with high concentration of vendors.
On this occasion, Head of Special Monitoring Unit of Chief Minister's Office Dr Naveera and Hamza Tariq gave a presentation on regularizing street hawkers in Lahore.
The presentation gave an overview of current challenges being faced by the informal economy in Lahore and discussed in length about the various global best practices that could be implemented in Lahore.
It was highlighted that the Punjab government in collaboration with donor agencies has given free of cost vending carts to street hawkers in Lahore back in 2021 and a similar model with designated vending zones in Lahore was presented to the Minister.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023