Civic body to take up survey of vendors in Cuttack soon

CUTTACK: Taking a cue from its Bhubaneswar counterpart, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has decided to conduct a survey of street vendors here.
The survey work is necessary for setting up vending zones. It will also help the civic body to implement various rehabilitation projects for roadside vendors and hawkers, CMC sources said.
To discuss the modalities of the survey work, a meeting will be held at the CMC office on July 2.The civic body has invited members of All Odisha Roadside Small Vendors' association (AORSVA) to express their views on the issue.
"To carry out the survey successfully, we need the cooperation of the street vendors. We will chalk out a strategy for smooth conduct of the survey without any error," said CMC commissioner Gyana Ranjan Das.
The meeting will also decide whether the survey will be conducted by CMC employees or a private agency, he said, adding, it will be taken up in next few weeks.
In 2010, the CMC had proposed to set up 23 vending zones in the city. It also conducted a survey of vendors about six years ago, but it was done in a haphazard manner and remained incomplete.
"There are around 20,000 vendors in Cuttack. The administration earlier evicted them without providing alternative sites," said president of AORSVA, Subash Singh.
He said the CMC seems serious about the project this time. "We will ask the civic body to take up the survey work in phases and distribute identity cards among the vendors," he added.