The Indian Express                 30.05.2013

BMC proposes 190 zones for unlicensed vendors

BMC is in the process of identifying and developing 190 zones to house unlicensed vendors. These, in addition to the 191 roads where licensed hawking is allowed.

The corporation is awaiting central government nod to Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012, before it leases these spaces to hawkers.

"We will shift licensed hawkers to these zones before considering unlicensed vendors. We will seek an ammendment to Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act 1886 to allow registration of unlicensed hawkers who can then be shifted to these zones by way of a lottery," said Bhagwan Sathe, superintendent of the BMC licenses department. Civic data suggest of the 2.5 lakh hawkers in the city, only 15,159 are licensed.

"It is a social issue and a question of livelihood for a large section. We cannot drive out the hawkers, so we are looking at alternatives. Meanwhile, we are carrying out regular drives to remove encroachments along roads and footpaths," said Sathe.

However, an anti-hawker drive started by BMC with traffic police about six months ago has lost steam.

Unlicensed vendors have reclaimed parts of Borivali station and roads and footpaths in Dadar, Hill Road in Bandra and Mulund.

"For a few days (after the civic drive) there was some place to walk and traffic jams had reduced. But within a week or so it was back to normal. Neither police nor BMC are doing anything about it," said Reena Chheda of Borivali (West).

With monsoon looming, residents are also concerened about the quality of street food.

"Many food stalls are near open drains or at places where there are pools of stagnant water. This may become a major health problem for citizens," said Salima Khan of Bandra (West).

Anand Wagralkar, deputy municipal commissioner in charge of encroachment removal, said, "We carry out regular drives but their success depends on police support. Hawkers get tips about impending arrival of our vehicles and disappear with their wares."

Once BMC vehicles are gone, it's business as usual.