Hawking zones: BMC hits roadblock
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Licenses department has faced stiff opposition from 16 hawking zones in the city and suburbs despite the Supreme Court orders to allot spots to the 23,950 licensed hawkers in a phase-wise manner and mark 221 roads as hawking zones.
In the wake of this development, the civic body has sent back the cases of these 16 zones to the three-member committee set by the Supreme Court which surveyed and finalised the 221 hawking zones for Mumbai. Barring these 16, the Licenses department has completed marking pitches and putting up hawking and non-hawking zone boards in all other areas.
This opposition is mainly from the C,B, F-North and S wards where we had to involve the police as BMC staffers were manhandled. These are areas where there is either a huge market or peaceful residential area that did not have hawkers on their roads,” said a senior official from the Licenses department. And in most cases there are MLAs and local corporators fighting their cause which has made it even more complicated,” he said. He cited an example where shopkeepers had physically manhandled BMC staffers at Mangaldas Market on May 16 with the alleged support of local corporator Janak Sanghvi of the BJP.
BR Marathe, deputy municipal commissioner (Hawkers and Licenses) said, “It is a difficult situation—to follow the Supreme Court orders on one hand and handling people opposing them and even physically abusing our staff when they go to mark pitches and put up hawking zone boards, on the other.”
The 16 zones where the BMC has hit a roadblock involve important roads and areas in the city, eastern and western suburbs (see box).
In fact, the Licenses department is weary of the fact that after the Supreme Court had given the order in February 2007, it had identified 236 zones and then called for public suggestions and objections before setting up the three-member committee. “At that time people did not come ahead, but those who did, were given justice. The areas were visited and surveyed and 27 of them were deleted from the list after considering their problems,” added Marathe.
The BMC expects the committee to study the representations after which a decision will be given. “It will take about a month’s time, after which we might be able to go ahead and put up boards. Till then, we will go ahead with the next procedure of drawing lots of licensed hawkers,” said a senior BMC licenses official.
Some zones where BMC faces opposition
* Mangaldas Market Road
* Mohammed Ali Road
* Jangal Mangal Road, Bhandup
* Apna Bazaar Road, Kanjurmarg
* Datar Colony Road, Kanjurmarg
* NCPA Road, Narinam Point
* Free Press Journal Road
* Damodar Suhatwala Marg
* Tapovan Building Road, Malad East
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