Congress advocates a pause till civic elections are over, while hawkers body says BMC’s cap of 32,407 doesn’t make sense when civic body itself has recognised more than 1 lakh vendors while giving out loans
Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
It appears to be a challenging task for the BMC to implement the hawker policy. Even after more than eight years, the BMC is yet to implement the policy. Now, the Hawkers Union threatens to approach the court because the BMC has published a draft list of 32,407 eligible hawkers to vote for their representatives in the town vending committee election.
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The Congress party has demanded that the hawker policy should be implemented after the civic election. Dayashankar Singh, president of the Azad Hawkers Union, criticises the list, stating that BMC has distributed loans of Rs 10,000 to more than 1 lakh hawkers but now claims there are only 32,407 eligible ones. “Are only 32 thousand hawkers sufficient for a city which has such a large population? If BMC does not rethink the numbers, we don’t have a choice but approach the court,” Singh said.
Hawkers in Dadar near the railway station. Pic/Ashish Raje
Shashank Rao, president of the Mumbai Hawkers Union, plans a protest against the BMC. They demand the cancellation of the list and a fresh survey conducted by the current town vending committee. If their demands are not met, they will consider approaching the court. Sanjay Gurav, a member of the town vending committee, accuses the BMC of mishandling the hawker policy implementation, predicting a legal challenge.
The Congress party also expressed dissatisfaction with the draft list, highlighting the contradiction between the government’s claim of providing loans to lakhs of hawkers under the Pradhan Mantri Swanidhi scheme and the BMC’s assertion of only 32,407 eligible hawkers. Ravi Raja, former Opposition leader of the BMC, calls for decisions on important issues to involve citizen representatives.
The BMC published the draft list on June 15, allowing citizens to submit suggestions and objections until July 14. The final list, after considering the feedback, will be submitted to the labour commissioner for further proceedings, according to an official.
The BMC initiated the formulation of the hawkers’ policy in 2016 in response to the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act passed by Parliament in 2014, following a Supreme Court order. During the initial phase, the BMC identified and distributed forms to 1.28 lakh hawkers, out of which 99,435 submitted applications along with the required documents.
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