MMRDAs hawking policy aims to cut urban poverty
Mumbai: A new hawking policy is on the cards. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning a policy in which hawking will be used to reduce urban poverty.
With this in mind, the development agency has planned an initiative to set up three hawking zones on a pilot basis at Oshiwara, Thane and Kalyan, with the aim of helping settle hawkers.
MMRDA officials said they would hold discussions with the Reserve Bank of India and other financial institutions to ensure that the hawkerswho would be settled in the said areasgot micro finance for their enterprises, ensuring their sound financial health.
The discussions come in the wake of a decision to settle project-affected persons who run commercial enterprises at presentin stalls on 50 skywalks planned at railway stations in the city. The authorities are also planning a plaza at some suburban stations to accommodate hawkers displaced by roadwidening projects.
The MMRDA officials said the idea is to ensure that the new stalls are financially viable. There will be a survey of the hawkers who want to set up shops in the new zones and only then will they be given stalls, said one of them.
The municipal corporation already has a hawking policy, which it implements in the city and its suburbs, but the MMRDA is the planning authority for Oshiwara and the Greater Mumbai region; hawking issues will now been seen in a different light.
toireporter@timesgroup.com
toireporter@timesgroup.com
A NEW AVENUE: The MMRDA has planned to set up three zones at Oshiwara, Thane and Kalyan, where hawkers will be settled