BMC to publish ‘authorised’ hawkers list on Monday

A month after receiving permission from the Town Vending Committee (TVC), the new list of selected hawkers will be published on the BMC's website on Monday. The hawkers' unions have raised objections over the process to select a small fraction of hawkers and are on wait-and-watch mode. The list will be sent to the labour commissioner who will hold an election among selected hawkers to elect their representatives who will be included in the TVC which is to decide on distribution of licences.

As the civic elections draw closer, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started the stalled process of selection of hawkers to give licences. It held a meeting of the TVC on May 3, after postponing it twice. Though all the representatives of hawkers strongly objected to the selection of merely 10 per cent of the estimated hawkers (3 lakh) in the city, some members voted to start the process.

The decision was passed by 10 votes, with seven against it. The TVC is headed by BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal. The concerned department sent a proposal to publish the list of selected hawkers on the BMC's website.

The finalised list will be sent to the labour commissioner who will hold the poll among selected hawkers to elect their representatives. File pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

"The commissioner has sanctioned the proposal and most likely we will publish it on Monday. The list will be sent to hawkers' unions also. Everyone can send their suggestions and objections within a month and then we will proceed accordingly," said a BMC official.

Once the list has been finalised it will be sent to the labour commissioner who will conduct the election among selected hawkers to elect their representatives. These representatives will be included in the TVC and the committee will then decide on the distribution of licences and regularisation.

According to Dayashankar Singh, president of Azad Hawkers' Union, they strongly opposed going ahead with the election with merely 32,000 hawkers selected by the BMC as it is based on the 2016 information. "A lot has changed now and we demanded a fresh survey. Recently there was a meeting of hawkers in Dadar where everyone put forth their views and we are waiting for the decision from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Then we will think of our next step," he said.

‘2% of the population'

"Political parties want the hawkers' policy implemented as it will help their vote share. But if only 10 per cent of hawkers get selected, then the move will backfire," said a hawker. In India, the National Policy for Urban Street Hawkers notes that street hawkers constitute approximately 2 per cent of the population of a metropolis.

The Parliament passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014, following a Supreme Court (SC) order. There are around 14,970 hawkers who received licences in the 1970s. When the BMC started a survey in 2016, they had identified and distributed forms to 1.28 lakh hawkers, of whom 99,435 submitted applications with relevant documents.

As the state government had made domicile certificates mandatory, only 15,361 hawkers were found eligible in 2019. Now, after the relaxation in the rule of domicile, the BMC added another 2,000 to the list. The TVC is an important part of the hawkers' policy as it is responsible for the allotment of licences to hawkers, pitches and overall regulation in the city.

Union's demands

Shashank Rao, president of the Mumbai Hawkers' Union, said, "We already opposed the selection of only 32,000 hawkers. The survey conducted in 2016 was faulty and there has to be a new survey every five years. The commissioner was asked for votes and all seven hawkers unions opposed it. Our demands are to cancel the list and take a fresh survey. We will start a signature campaign among hawkers and give our letter to the chief minister and deputy CM on July 19 during the monsoon Assembly session."

15,361
No of hawkers found eligible for licences in 2019