One of the political parties outside the parliament, Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) says banning street hawkers from selling food items, along the streets and roads of the country, is not an option but a serious economic and social injustice.
The release says DNT looked at laws and policies to see whether there’s actually a law in place banning street vending or if Thukpa selling is really “illegal” or not. “There is no law! Therefore, abusing “Thimphu Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules and Regulations 2007” to label Thukpa selling as “illegal” is actually an illegal act.”
DNT says majority of the street hawkers come from low-income group or base of the economic pyramid. Harming them would be creating inequality through injustice, further widening the gap between the rich and the poor in our country,” said the release.
Over 40 street hawkers had submitted a petition to the Prime Minister, in November’s last week, requesting permission to sell food items on the streets of Thimphu.
The police, trade department under economic affairs ministry, BAFRA, and Thimphu Thromde had ordered the street hawkers to stop selling food items along the streets, in November.
The press release says, quoting latest labour force statistics, says more than 70 percent of Bhutan’s total workforce, across the nation, depend on informal economy for their livelihoods. DNT says selling food on the streets is not illegal but informal.
“For example, when you weave Kira and Gho and sell, you don’t have license but your weaving business is not illegal – it is informal.”
Like in other developing countries around the world, the press release says, Bhutan’s both employment future and opportunity to reduce gap between rich and poor may lie in the informal economy. It says Bhutan cannot absorb the entire workforce in the formal economy.
“However, our economic, labour, and urban policies are hostile towards informal traders or informal workers as we can see the hostility of authorities towards street hawkers including Thukpa sellers.”
The Chief of Police, Brigadier Kipchu Namgyel, in his earlier interview, had attributed the increase in the crime rates to street hawkers. He had said, because of them, more people are spending longer hours in the city.
The Joint Secretary of the Department of Trade, Sonam P.Wangdi, also in an earlier interview, had said they issue licenses to only those who have fixed location to sell food items
DNT, on the other hand, says informal economy is a global reality and it is here to stay. “Bhutan cannot be an exception.”
