Economic Existence of Street Vendors and their Role in Urban Economy : A Cost Benefit Approach

Abstract

Roadside Encroachment is an illegal activities for any purpose, e.g. residence, commercial unit, political meeting, religious places etc. Street Vendors are Commercial Encroachers who offers goods for sale to the public without having a permanent built up structure from which to sell. Stationary Street Vendors occupy space on the pavements or other public and private spaces and Mobile Street Vendors move from place to place by carrying goods on pull carts or in baskets on their heads. In the urban area Street Vending is considered as one of the common source of income for the poor segment who faces continuous harassment by civic authorities (Sen and Gupta, 2017). In spite of being the important informal service sector in urban area, Street vending have a negative public image, being associated with accidents, congestion, environmental degradation etc, although a large segment of local inhabitants and daily commuters of urban area prefer them as their goods are very cheap . This paper highlighted the role of street vendors in urban area by cost benefit analysis.