Govt asks police, civic bodies not to evict existing hawkers

In a major relief to street vendors in Delhi, government today directed the police and civic bodies that till the implementation of Street Vendors Act, the existing hawkers should not be evicted or "harassed".
The decision was taken at a meeting convened by Home Ministry and attended by the representatives of police and all municipal corporations of Delhi.
Till implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, municipal bodies will not harass and evict existing street vendors, a statement issued by National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) said.
They have also been directed to issue guidelines to its officials identifying the different categories of existing vendors not be touched, the statement said.

The Delhi Police Commissioner office will issue direction to the DCPs to put in place Street Vendors' Grievance Redressal Cell at their respective levels and a review meeting will take place after a month at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The meeting also decided that the municipal bodies would expedite the process of implementation of the Act.
The action came after a delegation of NASVI met Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde yesterday and urged him to issue a moratorium on police action against them and stop their alleged harassment.