Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani has said that he believes that street vendors are not encroachment and it is a legal business and law permits vendors to do business with formal permission. He was speaking as a chief guest at a seminar "Street Vendor Project". organised by Islamabad-based research institute PRIME Institute, in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation, National Youth Assembly and lawyer Ahmed Bashir at a local hotel here.

The seminar was attended among others by the economists from different universities based in Karachi, scholars, representatives of NGOs, and members of working group formed by the PRIME to get feed back from multiple stakeholders on preparing a draft legislative bill for the protection of vending rights of street vendors and articulating the public space usage.

Commissioner said government has no intention to ban street vendors, as government considers that it provides low income group people to earn their livelihood and contributes to the economy, However, street vendors should be regulated and should be registered, he added.

Commissioner assured his full support to the PRIME institute and organization involved in this prestige project. He emphasized the role of public-private partnership. -PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019