Draft legislative bill for rights of street vendors launched

Islamabad :Secretary, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division Shaista Sohail launched a draft legislative bill related to rights of street vendors. She said that Ehsaas programme of the Prime Minster Imran Khan will be engaging for this social welfare cause. She said that for the implementation of 134 policy actions, Ehsaas programme will be engaging more than 45 government agencies at federal, provincial and local levels.Shaista Sohail was speaking at an event organised by Prime Institute the mover of this drafted bill. She was of the view that this new legislation will take its course through the parliamentary process.“However, administrative actions for betterment of street vendors can be undertaken early. These administrative measures can be given legal cover under the new law”, she recalled. The Secretary said that Ehsaas has launched Solution Challenge Programme for engaging university students for the design of innovative solutions for poverty alleviation. “Government will look forward to own this proposed bill and collaborate for its early passage from the parliament. It will create a better sense for the rule of law, which will work in benefit for poor as well as richer segments of the society”, she committed.In his welcome address, Zia Banday, Director PRIME Institute, elaborated the all useful aspects of the bill. He claimed that the project team assigned the task to do research over this issue, had visited 5 cities to conduct consultations and awareness campaign among street vendors and related stakeholders.He explained that for this purpose the Institute organized street vendor assemblies and working group sessions for the purpose in these cities. He mentioned about non-existence of data on number of street vendors in the country.On the occasion, a legal expert, Ahmed Bashir also gave all legal outputs in the drafted bill highlighted all legal technicalities in the draft. He recalled lacunas in existing legal framework for street vendors’ regulation, which lacks the intent on defining their rights and its protection. He said that the purpose of the bill is not only to elaborate on the street vendors’ rights, but also to create wider civic participation for regulating vending.The proposed bill envisaged establishment of Town Vending Committee, which will have representation from municipality, street vendors and civil society. This Committee is a major departure from prevalent practices on regulating vending in Pakistan. It is meant to safeguard livelihood of street vendors and also to reduce public space usage problems, owing to street vendors, for the general public. Other speakers include Munzir Elahi, Hanan Abbasi and Shimail Daud from government and development sectors also shared their views on the occasion. They suggested a robust advocacy campaign ahead for the outreach of the draft bill.

from The News International - Islamabad https://ift.tt/35JYAzY