Hawkers from the city will meet the union minister for housing and urban affairs on Thursday over the civic body’s delay in granting hawkers’ licences. Some hawkers, after repaying loans of Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 under a central scheme, have applied for loans worth Rs 50,000 each, in the hope that they would get licences. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not sent the hawkers’ voters’ list to the concerned authority to elect the new town vending committee, thereby delaying the process.

Even as hawkers protest the crawling pace of the licencing process, their presence on the city’s roads and footpaths is considered a nuisance by pedestrians.