*Mayor flags off street vending e-carts
Municipal Corporation supports the efforts of Ms Gauri Nagpal, in her Harvard supported research.
*Chandigarh, March 23*:- Sh. Anup Gupta, Mayor, Chandigarh today flagged off street vending carts to mobile vendors selling vegetables and beneficiaries under PM SVANIDHI scheme in the presence of Sh. Kanwarjit Singh, Senior Deputy Mayor, Sh. Harjeet Singh, Deputy Mayor and other senior officers of MCC.
The street vending carts have been designed by a student Ms. Gauri Nagpal under a project supported and funded by Harvard University, Laxmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute.
The Mayor also interacted with the street vendors and team of designers led by Ms. Gauri Nagpal so as to know how the pilot project can be further scaled up by designing such carts for other category vendors as well to give an aesthetic look to vending which is in harmony with the city design and architecture.
The carts have been designed by team comprising of local hawkers, carpenters, engineers, and mechanics who developed an electric street cart that abides by the city’s spatial design bye-laws with different parts that are detachable, and modular. This invention has been supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which awarded it the first prize in the Innovation in Food and Agri Business Competition as well as a first prize from Harvard University’s South Asia Institute which is funding the creation of the first fleet of 16 electric carts to be piloted in the city.
This project is only a first step towards encompassing informal workers in larger climate policy action and for the city of Chandigarh, hopes to open new doors to innovative thinking around complex urban challenges.
In addition to that the street vendors took an oath to Say No to Single Use Plastic and were given cloth bag made by Self Help Groups under DAY NULM.
