GUWAHATI, Aug 22 - For the first time, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has decided to map all the market areas of Guwahati and maintain an online database of all the vendors who will subsequently be given identity cards.
Sources informed that the need to have a database was necessitated during the COVID-19-induced lockdown when the administration had faced problems in streamlining the distribution chain of essential items.
Sources informed that the idea behind creating a database is also to have access to the antecedents of all those who enter Guwahati on a daily basis and indulge in different trades without any security check.
�Of course, facilitating access to fresh produce for the consumer is our top priority,� sources pointed out. In addition, this will also make the vendors accountable for the produce they deal in both in permanent and semi-permanent markets.
�The idea is also to have a good food environment in Guwahati. Once we have a database, it will also be easier for us to check the antecedents of the vendors operating in the market areas whenever the need arises,� an official told this reporter.
�Today, there is hardly any database of those dealing in vegetables, fruits or for that matter, any other items. Once we prepare a database, it will also be easier to frame a policy targeting them,� the official said, adding that it is also time to bring the mobile vendors under the ambit of some kind of rules and regulations.
�From the source of procurement to the point of selling, the entire chain will be monitored,� he said.
Not just vegetable vendors, the database will cover fish and meat markets as well, the official informed.
He divulged that the administration has also plans to maintain hygiene and other civic amenities in the market areas with the help of non-profit organisations working in the field.
Categorisation of morning and evening markets will also be done.
When contacted, GMC Commissioner Devajyoti Hazarika confirmed that a committee has been formed to create the database, which would help the administration bring the vendors under various government schemes.
