PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has started to collect ₹50 per day from hawkers who are doing business illegally on public roads. The fee collection began on April 1 and will be used for garbage collection and administrative work.
PMC anti-encroachment department head Madhav Jagtap said, “The civic body has started collecting ₹50 per day from illegal hawkers.The standing committee of the PMC had approved this resolution on December 17, 2021, which is now being executed by the administration.”
A PMC official requesting anonymity said, “Despite multiple drives by the PMC, these hawkers keep mushrooming across the city and often tend to do business in the same spot. The civic body cannot keep up with the number of drives as there is added political pressure. These illegal hawkers use the public space and often surround it with garbage which is later supposed to be cleaned up by the PMC. The ₹50 per day fee is only for collecting garbage and administrative work. This fee does not make the hawkers’ business legal.”
“Instead of collecting fees, the civic body should concentrate on clearing the place rather than encouraging their business with a mere fee. As a politician we cannot speak about these things out in the open. An honest and legal trader purchases a shop for a minimum of ₹50 lakh, but these illegal hawkers, want to use public space for free. Some hawkers do more business than the traders who do business legally,” said a senior politician requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}“Instead of collecting fees, the civic body should concentrate on clearing the place rather than encouraging their business with a mere fee. As a politician we cannot speak about these things out in the open. An honest and legal trader purchases a shop for a minimum of ₹50 lakh, but these illegal hawkers, want to use public space for free. Some hawkers do more business than the traders who do business legally,” said a senior politician requesting anonymity.
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