PANAJI: The Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) organised a one-day workshop for all municipal councils in the state with the help of experts from the Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (RCUES), Hyderabad on Friday.
The mission director for the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) Elvis Gomes who is also the director of Urban Development Department and member secretary, GSUDA, in his inaugural address, said that street vendors play an important role in society and that despite the Supreme Court directions and the mandate in the Street Vendors Act 2014, municipalities had failed to address the problem of the street vendors.
Gomes said that it was time to organise the street vendors as stipulated in the Act, offer them the protection and include them in the process of development.
Gomes also said that after the High Court order in 1997, a large number of street vendors were displaced and councils had failed to rehabilitate them despite the assurance given to the High Court.
He further said that it was high time to make the best use of the provisions contained in the Act in order to give a sense of security to vendors and organise them in specially designated vending zones.
The research officers from RCUES Rama Rao and Ernest Leslie guided the participants in the preparation of city street vendors plan, GIS mapping, street vendors’ survey, profiling, making identity cards and the financial incentives available under NULM.
They also showed that properly organised street vendors are an asset to the society and if given an opportunity, they can rise above their poverty status. Celsa Antao, coordinator, NULM proposed the vote of thanks.