Citizen Facilitation Centres, where the hawkers are required to pay their monthly rents, was closed during the lockdown which is why they couldn-t pay; ward officers say they -cannot waive off the rent-
Hawkers who went to renew their licences after Unlock 1.0 were in for a shock
While the Citizen Facilitation Centres CFCs of the BMC remained closed during the lockdown, hawkers in the city have been facing the brunt of it. The BMC this week collected Rs 2,000 as penalty from each of the licensee hawkers as a three-month late fee despite the hawkers being helpless regarding the payment for the last couple of months. The officers at the ward level said that they did not have the right to waive it.
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There are 24 CFCs at every ward office which offer services like payment of water charges, various types of licences and certificates Trade Licences, Birth Certificates, Death Certificates, Hoarding and Advertising Permits, Permission for cutting and trimming of trees, registration of shops and establishments etc. While the citizens can pay and apply online for most of the services, the hawkers have to pay the monthly rent and other fees in person at the CFC.
While the hawkers have been paying their rents at CFCs for years, the recent lockdown prevented them from doing so. The civic corporation closed all the CFCs from March 23 and opened them on June 8 last week. "The hawkers couldn-t pay the fee as the centres were closed. But when we finally went to pay them this week, they charged R2,000 extra from each of us as a late fee of three months. We requested them but even the ward level officers couldn-t do much," said a license holder.
"There are around 12,000 hawkers who got their licences before 1975. The BMC does not want any issue regarding the illegal transfer of hawking pitches or stalls," said a civic officer.
"It is a system-generated bill. The hawkers have to give a written complaint about the extra charges. The proposal to waive off the penalty charges has to be sent to the standing committee as it is related to revenue," said Sharad Bande, superintendent of licences, BMC.
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