The Meghalaya government has initiated the process of relocating hawkers from Khyndailad, a busy area in Shillong, as part of an effort to manage the space more effectively while involving the hawkers in the transition.
Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh emphasized that the government is ensuring that hawkers are not entirely removed but are instead accommodated within new vending zones, specifically from the area below Quinton Road to Umsohsun.
Speaking to Mediapersons, the Tourism Minister said, “At the moment our main focus is Khyndailad where there are roughly around 200 hawkers and these will be accommodated within Khyndailad itself.”
This initiative is a joint effort between the Urban Affairs and Tourism Departments. The vending zones have already been identified, and the list of hawkers and their respective trades is being finalized by the Urban Affairs Department.
The Minister also said, “The vending zones have been identified and now the details are available with the urban affairs department, once the list is finalized they will come back and report me.”
Asked about the location, he said, “As you enter inside, meaning from the point where the old civil Hospital is located and then you go straight down on your right people go towards Jail Road and to the left upto Umsohsun Junction. “
Lyngdoh informed that various facilities will be enhanced in the new Vending zone. The Minister also met the CEO of the Shillong Municipal Board as the individual trade has been taken into consideration by the Government before allotting them any particular area.
The Minister also mentioned that various facilities will be enhanced in these new vending zones to ensure the welfare of the hawkers. Individual cases are being reviewed to assign specific spaces to hawkers based on their trade, ensuring that similar trades are not clustered together, and that fire safety and other concerns are addressed.
“We are enhancing facilities for their welfare including proper Vending zones. Now, yesterday itself, I had spoken to the CEO of the Shillong Municipal board and he has given me the latest situation which of the latest situation, which is that they are relocating vending zones has been identified. Now, they are going into individual cases as to which individuals will occupy which space depending on their trade and the kind of activities that they are undertaking,” he said.
“ So, but we are inching towards closing this chapter and yesterday, I also had a separate meeting with a director of tourism and in order ensure that we have an alternative plan in mind, which is to turn that area into Hawker Free Zone and an area where only Pedestrians can Utilise,” the Minister added.
Asked, if the process of relocating Hawkers have already started, he said, “Yes the process has already started and we should be able to wind it up as soon as we get the all the details of these various trades, because you would understand that in one space , we can’t have three, four persons who are in the same business and then there are somebody some other vendors who also say, use sources of energy like fire again, we have to ensure from the Fire safety point of view, all those are being worked on. “
Asked about the time frame, Lyngdoh said, “So by when is it likely to get over? I can’t give you a definite time frame because we are closing very soon and we will make this fresh announcement because our Target was August 15 but the identification of trades and the names of individuals has taken more time than expected.”