BMC’s anti-hawker drive: A temporary fix or is there a long-term solution?

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has undertaken an antihawker drive But can it be sustained In the absence of an effective hawker policy action taken at select spots will be futile feel activists citizens and hawker associations After the Bombay High Court remarked on the state of footpaths the BMC started taking action against hawkers for the past four daysldquoThe civic body and police do not want to dry the cash flow coming through haftas from hawkers Thatrsquos why they do not take any firm steps to regularise hawkers and merely take action once in a whilerdquo said Dayashankar Sing president of Azad Hawkers UnionHe said despite repeated followups the corporation is not ready to implement the Supreme Court decision and now showcasing that they are implementing the high courtrsquos direction The court never forced the corporation to implement the hawkersrsquo policyNot just hawkers even citizens and activists do not trust the action taken by the BMCVendors in Borivli West PicNimesh DaveldquoIt has been over a year since the BMC held the town vending committee TVC meeting in October 2023 The BMC had then assured us that they would hold an election among the licensed hawkers to select their representatives which ultimately led to the state governmentrsquos hawkerrsquos policy as per the 2017 Bombay High Court order But after that there hasnrsquot been any communication Are they taking us for grantedrdquo said Vidya Vaidya an activist and member of TVCThe BMC held a TVC meeting in the presence of 17 representatives including then BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and a decision was taken to go ahead with the elections despite hawker unions opposing the move to conduct elections among only 32000odd hawkersVaidya added ldquoTill funds flow in all directions to allow encroachment from hawkers citizens will be neglected Hawking has become a syndicated activity On Bandrarsquos Hill Road and Linking Road not only four to five workers are employed by the hawkers but there are also guards on bikes to provide security to these encroachers This is the result of BMCrsquos negligence Hawkers are not just encroaching footpaths but also creating menace in overall hygiene and securityMandeep Singh Makkar founder of Chandivli Citizens Welfare Association CCWA said Will the BMC boast about taking action against vendors on footpaths when nothing substantial is seen on the ground The footpaths of Chandivli farm road are still crowded with illegal hawkers There will be no change until both the police and civic body are equally held accountable for the illegal cylinder stall problem Penal action needs to be enforced A few individuals control and operate the entire nexus with support from local politiciansSantosh Gaikwad posted a message on X asking why civilians were compelled to challenge the BMC to perform its basic duty ldquoWho is responsible for such irregularities Why are the BMC and elected representatives not concerned about the inconvenience to civiliansrdquo Another user Thomas Abraham expressed doubt that this operation will bring any permanent solutionOn the other hand a BMC official said they will continue the drive against illegal hawkers and they are taking steps to implement the hawker policy ldquoWe have already sent a letter to the labour commission for conducting elections Even returning officers are appointed and there will be elections soonrdquoIn 2014 following a Supreme Court order Parliament enacted the Street Vendors Protection of Livelihood amp Regulation of Street Vending Act An essential component of this Act is the TVC which oversees the issuance of licences to hawkers manages pitches and regulates street vending in the cityIn the 1970s approximately 14970 hawkers were licensed When the BMC began a survey in 2016 they identified and distributed forms to 128000 hawkers with 99435 submitting applications along with the required documents Due to the state governmentrsquos requirement for domicile certificates only 15361 hawkers were deemed eligible in 2019 However with the relaxation of the domicile rule the BMC has since added another 2000 hawkers to the list15361No of hawkers that were deemed eligible in 2019