New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS): The Delhi Congress on Saturday attacked former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP government for being a party to the harassment of lakhs of street vendors, mostly Purvanchalis, by not implementing a law to protect their livelihood.

Due to the failure of the Kejriwal government to form vending zones, the street vendors face constant harassment from Delhi Police, civic officials and Delhi government officials, who allegedly extort and exploit them, said Leader of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Mona Mishra at a press conference.

She said that the non-implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014, by the Kejriwal government has impacted the livelihood of nearly 35 lakh people depending on street vending in Delhi.

Most of the street vendors in Delhi hail from Purvanchal – eastern UP and Bihar.

Mishra said that it was shocking that the AAP government had identified only 72,467 street vendors in Delhi out of which Certificate of Vending has been given to only 62,333 vendors, and identity cards to 56,422 vendors.

She said that when the Congress returns to power in Delhi, the Street Vendors Act will be implemented fully to protect the livelihood of all the street vendors in Delhi, without any discrimination.

Addressing the press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan, Mishra said that the Congress-led UPA Government passed the Street Vendors Act in Parliament on March 5, 2014, to protect the livelihood of the Street Vendors, but due to the slanging match and shadow boxing between the Kejriwal Government and the BJP, it took Kejriwal six years to notify the Act on October 6, 2019.

Despite this, the Act is still to be implemented in toto in Delhi, which has affected 7.5 lakh officially recognised street vendors, and nearly 35 lakh people depending on them.

Others present at the press conference were AICC national spokesperson Abhay Dubey, Asma Tasleem and Jyoti Singh.