Residents furious about hawker menace in PCB area

PUNE: Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) residents have been complaining about the hawker menace since the past few years, where hawkers occupy all the main and connecting roads including lanes and by-lanes in the area

PUNE: Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) residents have been complaining about the hawker menace since the past few years, where hawkers occupy all the main and connecting roads including lanes and by-lanes in the area. The residents claim that the lack of action by the anti-encroachment squad has further emboldened hawkers and squatters, who are continuing with their business unabated and without fear. After massive action was ordered against them last year, they are back with a bang, the residents said.

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The hawker menace is especially visible in areas such as Sherbetwallah chowk, Poona College main gate, Azam campus entrance gate, Aurora towers, Fashion street, Babajan Dargah chowk, Justice K B Hidaytullah road, Solapur bazar road, East street, MG road and other prominent locations of the cantonment area.

Farham Mazda, a resident of East street, said, “Over the past one year, no action has been taken against the illegal establishments that have cropped up all over the cantonment area. The hawkers are occupying public spaces and not paying taxes. The board must immediately take action and remove the hawkers from the entire cantonment area.”

Meanwhile, organisations of hawkers-cum-vendors have demanded that a street vending committee be constituted to ensure their right to a livelihood. They said that the process will finally provide clarity on the rules guiding them, with the union government recently notifying amendments to the Street Vendors’ (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. The PCB administration too has initiated the process of setting up a town vending committee (TVC) with regard to the directions of the central government.

Once formed, TVCs will not only be responsible for enforcing policy but also for making decisions. According to the act, the government will constitute a TVC under each municipal corporation and cantonment board jurisdiction. The validity of a hawker’s certificate will be for a specified period from the date of issue after which he or she will have to submit a fresh application to the TVC for renewal while rentals from the vendors will be collected by the civic bodies. The new act will streamline the entire street vending system as there will be a concrete list of registered vendors. The TVCs will also be responsible for enforcement namely, keeping a check on illegal vendors. Most importantly, the rules are expected to remove any kind of bribery from the street vending system.

The TVCs are in the process of being constituted and once formed, they will first conduct surveys to prepare a final list of street vendors. For registration, a vendor will have to provide a photo identification card along with other documents as per procedure.

Notwithstanding, PCB CEO Amit Kumar said, “Strict action will be taken against unauthorised hawkers and the board has been conducting regular drives to keep the roads free of hawkers.”