Let vendors stay, NCP, Left to tell Laloo

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, the RSP’s Abani Roy and D. Biswas of the Forward Bloc will join Pawar in asking Laloo to possibly increase license fees, but not evict vendors.

This is in response to the new Catering Policy, which entailed the cancellation of existing licenses in the 930 category ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ railway stations — important statons where the traffic is high — and tendering them to the highest bidder. The vendors at the remaining 7000-odd stations would remain uanffected.

The Catering Policy — a copy of which is available with The Indian Express — created a flutter among existing license holders, who feared the loss of their stalls. ‘‘Many of them have been holding these licenses for decades and while they are earning a packet, the railways have been denied their share of the profit,’’ an official said.

Even among the A, B and C category railway stations, the 25 per cent reservation for SC, ST, war widows, freedom fighters, minorities and the handicapped remained unchanged. ‘‘It is only the remaining 75 per cent stalls which are to go to the highest bidder,’’ he added.

In the D, E and F category, Laloo had increased the reservation from 25 per cent to 49.5 per cent. ‘‘The Catering Policy is very well thought-out, designed to bring profit for the railways while taking care of the underprivileged and the needy. Laloo cannot be faulted on this one,’’ the official said.