Himachal govt revoked street vendor policy on Cong high command's directive: BJP

Shimla: Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday slammed the state government led by Sukhvinder Sukhu for first ordering the implementation of the street vendor policy and then revoking it.

He said the government has bowed down to the pressure of the Congress high command. “This rule is being opposed because it is the (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) Yogi model. It is condemnable that the Sukhu government is withdrawing the action. This rule has been in place since the previous government.

“Under the street vendor policy, provisions were made for verification of all shopkeepers, registration and various types of regulations, which were stopped by the Sukhu government as soon as it came to power. It is the government's job to protect the interests of the state and its people, but the Sukhu government is working to protect the interests of the Congress.”

Leader of Opposition Thakur said the government is working against the public sentiment and the law, keeping in mind the political intentions of its high command. “This is not in the interest of the state in any way. Do the regulatory bodies and the people of the state not have the right to know about the people who set up shops and sell various types of products in the state? Will the state be run according to the political intentions of the Delhi high command instead of being run according to the rules?”

The Leader of the Opposition said that some Congress leaders put forward their views after understanding the public sentiment, but as soon as the high command showed its anger, they got disturbed and retracted their statements.

“A minister of the Congress government backtracks from his statement in the House due to fear of losing his chair, while another minister posts on social media and informs about the implementation of the Yogi model, after which he says that the Uttar Pradesh model has been implemented keeping in mind the interests of Himachal, and retracts as soon as he receives a call from Delhi,” Thakur added.

A day after Urban Development Minister Vikramaditya Singh courted a controversy by saying the government had decided to make it mandatory for all street vendors in Shimla to display their name, photograph and identification as per their ID cards, the state government on Thursday clarified that no decision to display nameplates by the vendors had been taken.

A spokesperson for the government said numerous suggestions have been received from different sections of society regarding the street vendor's policy.

“So far, the government has not taken any decision to mandatorily display nameplates or other identification by the vendors on their stalls,” he said, adding the government was committed to addressing the concerns of street vendors of the state and would consider all suggestions carefully before taking any decision.

The spokesperson said a committee, comprising both Congress and BJP MLAs, has already been constituted to address the matter.