The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is revising its hawker policy. Now, the number of eligible hawkers may increase from 32,415 to 77,000. The review follows a Bombay High Court (HC) hearing on February 7.
The civic body is also reconsidering 222 roads marked as hawking zones by the Supreme Court in 2017. Many of these roads now face blocks due to metro and road projects. As per reports, the number of hawking zones may now decrease.
The BMC is planning strict action against hawkers near railway stations to remove all hawkers within 150 meters of every station. Special enforcement squads will be deployed, with station-wise staff.
The civic body is also collecting data on hawkers occupying railway station areas. Deadlines will also be set for hawkers to vacate. More employees will be added to monitor encroachments.
Under current laws, hawkers must meet four criteria to be eligible:
- They must have a domicile certificate.
- They must be over 14 years old.
- They should not have another source of income.
- They should be Indian citizens.
The vendors were removed from the list for failing to meet these requirements. Last Friday, the High Court questioned why only 32,000 hawkers were eligible out of 100,000. The BMC explained that those who failed to meet the criteria were excluded.
The civic body will submit letters to the court, showing that 77,000 vendors failed to provide required documents. The High Court had earlier ruled that all hawkers must provide domicile certificates. Many BMC officials stated that hawkers with fines before 2014 could use them as proof of legality.
The previous injunction on removing unauthorised hawkers will stay in effect until the next hearing on February 24.
Share
Tweet
