19 December,2023 06:53 AM IST | Mumbai | A Correspondent
Roadside hawkers at MG Road, Ghatkopar West on March 26. File pic/Anurag Ahire
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has submitted a voters' list of hawkers to the labour commissioner's office and the latter will now take a call on holding the election of the town vending committee (TVC), which will draft the guidelines under which vendors are eligible to come under the long-awaited hawkers' policy. Around 32,000 hawkers are eligible to cast their vote for the candidate of their choice. "The TVC can decide if there is a need to conduct a fresh survey of hawkers," said a BMC official.
An official attached to the labour commissioner's office confirmed the reception of the voters' list last week. "We will take the final decision on conducting a TVC election after discussing the matter with senior officials," said an official.
According to the policy, there must be one central town vending committee and seven zone-wise committees, each comprising 20 members. Of these, 12 are nominated while eight are hawkers' representatives, who vendors elect.
The BMC initiated the formulation of the hawkers' policy in 2016 in response to Parliament passing the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014. During the initial phase, the BMC identified and distributed forms to 1.28 lakh hawkers, of which 99,435 submitted applications.
