JAC of the street vendors has demanded concerned authorities to identify original street vendors that have been using Ima Market premises for their survival for the last many years.
Addressing the media at the Manipur Press Club on Wednesday, JAC secretary Sh Rajendro Meitei said that the order issued by commissioner of MAHUD on October 15 had directed all street vendors to sell their items at the temporary market. Those vendors are obeying the order as police forces are also strictly implementing it, he said.
But unfortunately, many new street vendors have mushroomed again, occupying the areas and thus affecting the street vendors who have been depending on the Ima Market premises for many years, he said while stating that the majority of vendors vending in temporary markets are not original street vendors.
He said the Imphal Municipal Corporation had recently selected a list of street vendors associations to accommodate those deserving street vendors in the temporary market. However, contrary to this move, the police department chasing street vendors away from the temporary market as an order of MAHUD is unfortunate, he said.
He said that the issue of street vendors was created out of limited space and is not a recent event. It has been that way since the time of the Congress rule and instead of solving it, the matter is still growing, he added.
Due to absence of proper identification of real street vendors in the state, many undeserving vendors used to get benefits, including the loans during COVID-19, he alleged and stated that many street vendors have been suffering to make their ends meet.
He also appealed to the concerned authorities to at least allow street vendors to sell their items in and around Ima Market until the Ningol Chakouba festival is over.
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