By Tricitynews
Chandigarh 03rd
April, 2019:- Street vendors are an integral part any society and they give a
sense of vibrancy to any city. They constitute an important segment at the
bottom of the pyramid of the informal economy in cities. Street vending has a
prominent place in the urban supply chain, and provides inexpensive and
convenient access to goods and services to all segments of the population
including the poor.
Street food
vendors are a special group in this regard and are an integral and important
role in urban food supply chain. Street food gives people affordable local
foods at convenient locations. As per Government of India (GOI), there are,
about 20 lacs street food vendors in India and around 3300 street food vendors
in Chandigarh as per MCC.
GOI endeavour
to support urban street vendors is reflected through National Urban Livelihoods
Mission. Chandigarh as a modern planned city can certainly take a lead here
through training and skill development. A concept of ‘Safe Food Town’ needs to
be developed & nurtured in tandem with declaration of Chandigarh as a Smart City.
To achieve this goal Department
of Community Medicine and SPH, PGIMER, Chandigarh and Municipal Corporation of
Chandigarh has jointly initiated a project entitled “Convergence of initiative
of Women, Child and Social development agencies of Chandigarh for mainstreaming
Street Vendors’ Welfare through integrated training enterprise of its Municipal
Corporation with special focus on street food hygiene”, under the patronage of KK
Yadav, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.
As a part of
this project, 20 workshops will be held over a period of one year in
Chandigarh. Through these workshops, training will be imparted to encourage and
ensure that operation of Chandigarh Street vendors conform to- Byelaws of MCC,
Food Safety and Standard Regulation 2011, Street vendors Act 2014, Child Labor
Act, Swacchh Bharat Mission, Women empowerment & prevention of their
exploitation. They will be empowered and enlightened about their rights and
responsibilities.
In addition,
three carts will be designed, manufactured and pilot tested to convert Chandigarh into a safe food town.
The Principal
coordinator for this project is Dr Amarjeet Singh Professor, School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh. The project is co-developed by Saurabh
Mishra, Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh,Vivek
Trivedi, Social Developmental officer, NULM, Municipal Corporation,
Chandigarh and Dr. Sonu Goel, Additional Professor, School of Public Health, PGIMER,
Chandigarh.
The
first capacity building & training
workshop was held on 3rd April 2019 at City Livelihood Centre,
Community Sewa Kendra, Sector 25, Chandigarh. A total of 40 registered street
vendors attended the same. The vendors along with the training gotfree medical
checkup by the doctors of Community Medicine, PGIMER, Chandigarh.
KK Yadav, Commissioner,
Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh was the Chief Guest and he inaugurated the
‘Street Food Vendors’ Hygiene Kit’. Dr. Amarjeet Singh gave the inaugural
address. This was followed by an interesting play on ‘food safety issues’
presented by students of NINE, PGIMER, Chandigarh. The play was organized under
the guidance of Ms. Damanpreet Kaur (Tutor, NINE, PGIMER, Chandigarh).
Vivek Trivedi
explained the bye-laws related to Protection Of Livelihood and Regulation
of Street Vending.
Ravider from
The Mask Theatre Group also staged a street play on this topic using
Maddari-Jamoora motif.
Mrs Sangeeta
Vardhan, Town Vending Committee Member, Chandigarh, explained the rights and
responsibilities of street vendors. She interacted with the audience and
addressed their grievances.
Harkit Singh,
Punjab National Bank, Chandigarh came to increase awareness about
financial literacy and various micro financing schemes as applicable among
street food vendors
Dr. Geeta
Mehra, faculty from MCM-DAV, Sector 36, Chandigarh gave demonstration on
‘foldscope’. She showed slides of microbes present in unhygienic food
samples.
Sunil Arya
faculty from AIHM, Sector 42, Chandigarh demonstrated the hygienic practices to
be followed while food preparation and handling. He also highlighted the safety
uniform features (like apron, head cover, gloves, etc) to be worn while
preparing food.
Hindustan
Unilever Limited supports the training of Street Food Vendors being jointly
organized by Dept. of Community Medicine and School of Public PGI Chandigarh
and Municipal Corporation Chandigarh as a part of its Corporate Social
Responsibility initiative.
Dr. Nidhi
Jaswal (SD, Community Medicine & SPH, PGIMER, Chandigarh) took a session on
Laughter Yoga.
