Maharashtra govt gives nod to committee for hawking zones and permits in Mumbai

The move has also paved the way for appointing hawkers’ representatives in the committee

To resolve hawking problems in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has approved formation of a town vending committee (TVC), which will look in to all issues related to hawkers.

According to a BMC survey, there are around 1 lakh hawkers in Mumbai. (Hindustan Times)

The move has also paved way for appointing representatives of hawkers for the TVC.

Once formed, the TVC will register hawkers, issue licences and demarcate vending, non-vending and restricted zones for in the city. It is also supposed to conduct a fresh survey of hawkers. Manish Mhaiskar, principal secretary, state urban development department (UDD) confirmed the development.

A senior official from urban development department said they had approved the recommendations made by the BMC over the formation of TVC. “The BMC has suggested six names as representatives from NGOs, community-based organisations, resident welfare associations and market associations which have been approved by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis,” said the official from UDD.

The 20-member TVC headed by municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta will also have the Mumbai police commissioner, representative of special planning authority, the joint commissioner of police (traffic) and the chief medical officer as its members. Apart from the six names approved by the state government, the BMC will also need eight representatives from various hawkers’ organisations that will be selected through elections to be conducted by the labour commissioner, the officials said. The TVC will also have to decide if it wants to conduct a fresh survey of hawkers or stick to the 2014 survey conducted by the BMC, the officials said. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulations of Street Vending) Act, 2014 allows hawkers up to 2.5 per cent of the city’s population, which comes to around 3.1 lakh hawkers in Mumbai.