Chandigarh Municipal Corporation

Vivek Trivedi, 43, Social Development Officer at the Municipal Corporation** Chandigarh, is the man behind the resettlement of over 10,000 street vendors and hawkers operating in Chandigarh since the 90s. By regularising these vendors and giving them licences and specified work spaces, he has been responsible for generating revenues of Rs 24 crore for the cash strapped Chandigarh MC. An urban and social development expert, Vivek had earlier worked as Project Director with the United Nations Development Program and various social sector organisations of the union government. He is a fellow of the Al Gore Climate Leaders Program and has…

Chaman Lal, a street vendor in an inner market in one of the city’s northern sectors, is a worried man these days. Originally from Partapgarh in Uttar Pradesh, the 62-year-old banana seller has been residing in the city for 10 years now, selling seasonal fruits for the past four years.  Sitting next to him on a raised platform, almost hidden from the public eye by a electricity junction box, is his friend 72-year old Ghanshyam Bahadur, who helps him with his street business. Chaman Lal's worry stems from the fact that he does not have a vendor certificate and could…

For a planned city like Chandigarh, street vendors are a floating population difficult to include in the city’s planning mechanism. Street vendors tend to create an independent eco-system dominated by power centres within the government framework and outside from touts and racketeers, having to cope with the constant threat of confiscation of their goods. In the absence of a policy, usage of public space by street vendors remains a bone of contention between the different stakeholders in an urban setting. Objections are raised by motorists, resident welfare associations, market welfare committees and others who perceive them as a threat in…

Cycling was originally proposed as one of the preferred means of mass transport in Chandigarh city by its designer Le Corbusier himself. Corbusier envisaged laying out cycle tracks (classified as V7 and V8 roads) as part of the Master Plan for the city during its construction in the 1950s. As per the plan, every V3 road (fast vehicular roads dividing the sectors) across the city was to have a V7 road (cycle track), or a V8 road (cycle track plus footpath). “The Master Plan envisaged laying out cycle tracks of over 200 kms,” said Navdeep Asija, Traffic Advisor to the…