Guwahati: Assam govt will launch a comprehensive two-month survey of Guwahati’s roadside vendors in August to analyse their trade and places of domicile. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Saturday that the initiative aims to identify the entities controlling operations for an estimated one lakh street traders in Guwahati.“One by one we will take census-type data of every street vendor. Then we will be able to know how much employment opportunities, we, Assamese people have been missing. From Aug 16 this data collection drive will continue for the next two months,” said Sarma.He said that this will also reveal the number of people who have come from various districts of Assam like Dhubri, Goalpara, Nalbari, Karup, Barpeta districts or from Bihar or West Bengal.Sarma said that in Guwahati the one lakh shops on the roadside, includes both bigger and smaller ones. These, he said, are the shops by encroaching on the roadsides or areas below flyovers, including the meat shops or shops of leafy vegetables.Roadside business is a thriving business in Guwahati, but in many cases of selling food, the question of hygiene remains the biggest concern.Nevertheless, Sarma said that a large part of trade, including the selling of fruit, has been taken over by people who are not from Assam’s indigenous communities. “This survey will be an eye opener for the Assamese youths,” he said.
