On Thursday, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) decided to begin the exercise to ascertain the extent of vacant land available in the city where these vendors could be rehabilitated.

The members of Lucknow Footpath Vyapar Samanvay Samiti (LFVSS) met municipal commissioner S K Singh who assured them of taking adequate steps to get them rehabilitated.

Singh said the LMC would consider constructing small 64 sq feet shops made out of fibre sheets for the vendors. These shops would come up on vacant plots, essentially those which do not have any legal dispute.

"The shops would be of same dimensions and same colour in different zones of the city," he said. The construction cost of these shops would also be considerably less.

The municipal commissioner also asked the officials to ascertain if the land around the water bodies in the city could be used as a vending zone. Singh said that the LMC would also examine the areas which have been occupied by the vendors.

In the first phase, the vendors would be identified and registered. "But they would still be limited to a certain area and not allowed to sprawl," the municipal commissioner said.

The members of LFVSS wanted to know if the vendors could be allowed to operate from where they are presently operating.

The samiti also urged the municipal commissioner to include the vendors in the overall relocation process.

The samiti members sought to know if the vendors would be kept away from the purview of an encroachment drive.