Punjab
To discuss the issues of the street vendors, Ludhiana Rehri Fadi Federation in collaboration with NASVI organized a state conference in Ludhiana on 4th November, 2014. The state conference was attended by the Mayor and Commissioner of Ludhiana along with 1000 vendors with their leaders from 10 districts of Punjab- Ludhiana, Sangrur, Amritsar, Barnala, Khanauri, Chandigarh, Rajpur, Abohar, Jagrao and Jallandhar. Anuradha Singh, Programme Manager, NASVI, who attended the conference, briefed the audience about Street Vendors Act, 2014. Other members of the organization Mr. Tiger Singh and Mr. Sachin Grover highlighted the fact that the implementation of the Central Law for street vendors has not been satisfactory in Ludhiana and efforts should be intensified for the same. Ludhiana Mayor Mr. Harcharan Singh Gohalvadiya and Assistant Commissioner, Satwant Singh, also talked about the importance of the Street Vendors Act, 2014 and seeked cooperation for the betterment of the city.
Delhi
On 21st October 2014, Mr. Jude O’Reilley, Director, Social Entrepreneurship, Skoll Foundation, visited the NASVI office. After an interaction with the NASVI staff Mr. Jude visited Sarojini Nagar Market along with Ms. Sampriti Phukan Malik, Legal Adviser; Ms. Anuradha Singh, Programme Manager and Mr. Abhijeet Parulakar, an intern from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). After interacting with the vendor leaders from Sarojini Nagar Market and Prabhu Market, Mr. Jude was overwhelmed by the stories of their struggle and success in carrying out their vending activities with dignity. He was also impressed by the story of the vendors of the Prabhu Nagar Market as how the entire market was evicted and later on reinstated through the interference of court. In this regard he esteemed the role of Mr Shri Ram, Executive Committee Member from Delhi (a fruit vendor) for his efforts in working for the betterment of the street vendors. He appreciated the work that is being done by NASVI for ensuring the rights and privileges of the Street Vendors.
On 7th November 2014 Ms. Seema B Nair, Program Officer for South Asia, The Fund for Global Human Rights, accompanied by Mr. David Mattingly, Vice President and Director for Program and their one more colleague visited NASVI. They had an interactive session with NASVI staff. They were very much interested to know about the number of Town Vending Committees formed throughout the country along with the status of the implementation of the street vendors Act .In a visit to Sarojini Nagar Market the guests interacted with women street vendor leaders along with other leaders. Ms. Sadaf Farooq, Programme Manager, NASVI along with Ms. Sampriti Phukan Malik, Legal Adviser, NASVI facilitated the market visit of these visitors who wanted to know from the vendors about the change in their lives after the enactment and the enforcement of the Street Vendors Act, 2014.
