Mumbai hawkers' stalled hope: BMC's Town Vending Committee quagmire

Every area across Mumbai and the metropolitan region has areas full of colourful kiosks of the hawkers - entrepreneurs who, with tenacity and inventiveness, have become a vital part of the city's cultural and economic landscape.

In the midst of the city's commotion, their kiosks offer a look into the city's essence, representing its diversity and spirit. However, navigating this labyrinth of trade has been a difficult road, with the delicate balance between livelihoods and urban order long being contested.

Having long straddled the line between informality and legality, the establishment of Town Vending Committees (TVCs) in 2014 and the attempts to formalise their operations and create a more organised vending landscape was a glimmer of hope.

However, in the nine years since TVC was first proposed, things have barely progressed for the estimated over a lakh street vendors across the city. Before delving into the issues, it is pertinent to know what Town Vending Committees are, what work Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has done so far and the timeline of the civic body's compliance with the Street Vendors Act.

The nitty gritty of Town Vending Committees

Each TVC comprises 15 members, including representatives from street vendors, resident associations, market associations, and the local administration.

The TVCs are tasked with identifying vending zones, issuing vending licences, resolving disputes between vendors and residents, and ensuring adherence to vending regulations.

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The challenge it will likely face is appointing neutral and representative members, demarcating appropriate vending zones without displacing existing vendors, and ensuring smooth conflict resolution are some of the key challenges faced by TVCs.

Timeline of BMC's compliance with the street vendors act and court orders

Indian Parliament passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014, laying the groundwork for regulatory measures to help street sellers. However, implementation was hampered when Maharashtra established its Street Vendors Rules in 2016, prompting criticism for failing to fully agree with the central Act. Following that, a series of court skirmishes ensued, with petitions filed in the Bombay High Court between 2019 and 2021 challenging the BMC's activities against hawkers and the state's Street Vendors Rules.

In the year 2022, the Bombay High Court issued crucial court judgements while hearing multiple writ petitions, encouraging the state government and municipal agencies to review rules and procedures governing street sellers.

Notably, the BMC's establishing of a Town Vending Committee (TVC) in accordance with the Act on May 19 was called into question due to disagreements about its makeup and operational methodology. The following year, 2023, saw a chaotic series of events, including the BMC's January launch of a street vendor survey, which was met with opposition by hawkers' groups.

Court judgements continued to influence the landscape, with mandates for the BMC to provide alternate vending locations to evicted hawkers and appeals for the state government to finalise vending zones to effectively implement the Act. Despite these legal interventions, the BMC's progress in finalising the Street Vending Plan and addressing the concerns of street vendors has been slow, causing persistent objections and misgivings from hawkers' collectives over compliance with both legislative mandates and the Act's provisions.

Hawkers' unions up in arms with BMC

Additionally, the hawkers' unions have been up in arms with the BMC for a while now over the constitution of the Town Vending Committee.

Although the civic body had disbursed loans to over one lakh hawkers in the city, it has approved a list of only 32,000 hawkers as eligible to vote for their representatives. Additionally, they recently forwarded the list to the Labour Commissioner asking the official to conduct the elections.

The official, however, has given no timeframe within which the election can be conducted. With elections yet to be held, the hawkers' future has been left in limbo.

Shashank Rao, President of the Mumbai Hawkers' Union, told mid-day that the list of 32,000 hawkers included the earlier legal 10,000 hawkers and that BMC forwarding the same list to the labour commissioner to hold elections was "wrong". "In essence, only 22,000 additional hawkers are getting new licenses. They (BMC) have not listened to any of the hawkers' unions; it will not serve any purpose if you exclude 90 per cent of the population (of hawkers)," Rao said.

Rao said that a survey had to be conducted by the civic body in 2019 which they did not and rather have gone back to the work previously done. "The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 states that a survey must be conducted every five years but the civic body has not. Under the PM Svanidhi scheme of the Union government, the BMC has given loans and letters of recognition to over one lakh hawkers; how can they now say there are only 32,000 hawkers in the city," he questioned.

He further citing the Act said that it has a provision for 2.5 per cent of the hawker population's accommodation, but the BMC is not doing so. "It will not help either the hawkers or the public. The BMC just wants the issue to keep lingering," he added.

Nawaz Khan of the Maharashtra Ekta Hawkers' Union echoed similar thoughts; speaking to the publication, he said that the unions had been urging the civic body to qualify nearly one lakh vendors to vote for the elections of Town Vending Committee.

He also claimed that the civic body and civic commissioner IS Chahal remained elusive during the select meetings conducted over the course of last one year.

"Once the election is held for 32,000 hawkers, where will the rest go? The civic body is only concerned with holding the polls (and not about the hawkers' welfare)," he said.

The previous Deputy Municipal Commissioner said that the city can accommodate a little over 85,000 vendors, he added.

"The BMC is neither informing us when the elections will be conducted, nor have they given us clarity on where they will allocate spaces for the 32,000 hawkers to operate," Khan further stated while responding to a question on the pending elections.

"I spoke to the labour commissioner as well after the BMC said that they have forwarded the list to them to hold the elections. I was told that polls will be held after the Bombay HC gives directions," Khan claimed.

Khan claimed that thousands of crores are given to the civic officials as "hafta" (protection money) and the one benefit of TVC constitution would be that the hawkers will get vending certificate which will give legal sanction to the hawkers thus putting a stop on the flow of protection money while responding to a question on how the Town vending committee will benefit them.

What does BMC say?

The Supreme Court had ruled in 2013 that the Town Vending Committee should be constituted and it was adopted as an Act in 2014. When asked about the delay in setting up this committee, a BMC official stated, "There were some legal challenges pertaining to its implementation which delayed the task. Subsequently, the pandemic hit the world and thus the work was delayed in holding the polls."

Responding to a query about the discrepancy in the number as pointed out by the union leaders, the official added that once the polls are conducted, various teams will be formed based on zones and they will be making the decision regarding who they give vending licences to and where do they allot space for the hawkers.

Upon being asked about when the election for the Town Vending Committee would be held, he said, "We are following up with the Labour Commissioner; ideally the polls should be held within a month or two."