BMC To Evict Illegal Hawkers From 20 Congested Locations; Check The List Here

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified 20 locations in Mumbai that are heavily congested with unauthorised hawkers. An action plan to evict these hawkers will be presented to the Bombay High Court today.

Key Locations Identified:

• Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)
• Churchgate
• Colaba Causeway
• Dadar Station West
• LBS Road
• Hill Road
• Kurla West

In addition to these areas, the BMC has compiled a list of 32,415 hawkers to be authorised by its apex committee by August 31. This committee, headed by the municipal commissioner, will oversee the authorisation process.

A senior official from the BMC's license department explained that there are also seven town-vending zonal committees, which include representatives from authorised hawkers. However, the demands of seven hawkers' unions to incorporate and authorise up to 300,000 hawkers will not be included in this process.

Shashank Rao, president of the Mumbai Hawkers' Union, raised objections to the BMC's list, stating that 10,000 of the hawkers included were the original licensed hawkers of the city. He pointed out that the new list effectively only includes 22,415 new hawkers. Furthermore, he noted that the Street Vendors Livelihood Act (2014) permits issuing hawking licenses to 2.5 per cent of the city's total population, which would allow for over 3,00,000 hawkers.

The Street Vendors Livelihood Act (2014) also mandates an election among registered hawkers for the town-vending zonal committees. Rao criticised the BMC for conducting elections among only 32,415 hawkers, thus excluding the majority of Mumbai's hawkers. He highlighted that the last survey of hawkers was conducted in 2014, with no subsequent survey in 2019 as required.

Rao also pointed out a contradiction in the BMC's stance. While the BMC claims that only 32,415 hawkers are legal, it has also disbursed loans under the PM Svanidhi scheme to 1.50 lakh hawkers. He argued that ignoring the existence of most hawkers would perpetuate the problem of illegal hawking, benefiting only corrupt officials through bribes.

The Bombay High Court, on July 2, criticised the BMC and the police for their inaction against unauthorised hawkers, noting that these hawkers have taken over Mumbai's streets, making footpaths unusable. The court directed the BMC and police to identify the most congested areas affected by illegal hawking, implement Supreme Court orders against illegal hawking for at least a month, and report back on the challenges and solutions. The court also requested affidavits detailing actions taken in the past two years to address the issue. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.