HT DIGITAL
SHILLONG, AUGUST 2: Street hawkers under the aegis of the Meghalaya Greater Shillong Progressive Hawkers Association (MGSPHA) held a surprise sit-in protest on Friday at the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) office, urging the authorities to take immediate action regarding the overdue issuance of Certificates of Vending (CoVs) to deserving hawkers.
The association expressed deep frustration over the prolonged delays, noting that many vendors have been left without a source of income for weeks. They also criticized the lack of communication from the authorities regarding the status of their CoV applications, leaving their livelihoods in limbo.
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Aside from calling for CoVs, the protesters also opposed the newly allocated vending areas at the MUDA Parking Lot and the opposite side of the SBI Main Branch. In the opinion of the hawkers, these are too crowded, insufficient, and inappropriate to use for everyday transactions.
Democratic rights campaigner Angela Rangad, present during the demonstration, demanded the PTVC be convened immediately—the statutory body that has the mandate to process and approve vending applications. Rangad insisted that only the PTVC can legally deal with grievances in respect of CoV issuance and that sidelining it taints the process.
Rangad cautioned further that hawkers would not leave their present vending points unless the PTVC is convened soon. She warned that the protest would intensify if authorities kept turning a deaf ear to their demands.
Expressing dismay over the new relocation process, Rangad highlighted that many genuine vendors from the Khyndai Lad area were left out of the new vending allotments. She raised questions over the fairness of the SMB’s actions and faulted its processing of applications in the absence of PTVC control, cautioning that such one-sided decisions might result in corruption and illegal issuance of certificates.
The CoVs cannot be awarded arbitrarily at the office level. Skipping the PTVC, which is a legally formed body, reduces the credibility of the whole process,” she said.
Rangad also reminded that the hawkers had previously negotiated for space in MUDA but categorically rejected the government offer of moving them to the building basement, giving reasons that the space was not good for trade.
The MGSPHA reiterates that their protest will go on until authorities take definitive action to activate the PTVC and respond substantively to the demands of hawkers.
