Nashik: Hawkers Protest Against NMC's Encroachment Drive, Demand Immediate Halt

Nashik: Shramshakti Kamgaar Sanghatana protested at the Municipal Corporation entrance on Tuesday to protest the encroachment removal campaign of the Nashik Municipal Corporation, which is causing hardship to small businessmen and hawkers. It was warned that if the campaign is not stopped immediately, they will have to take to the streets and struggle through democratic means.

The protest led by Dr Vasant Thakur demanded that hawkers should be rehabilitated first, the National Hawker Policy 2014 Act should be implemented, the encroachment removal campaign should be stopped, hawker zones should be provided in the main market, biometric registration should be resumed, a meeting of the city hawker committee should be held immediately, the names of hawkers who were missing in the 2024 committee elections should be included in the list, the handcarts and stalls of disabled hawkers should not be lifted, and registered hawkers should be given registration certificates and identity cards immediately.

Thakur said, “Our repeated representations have not been heeded. If our demands are not accepted within fifteen days, we will take to the streets through democratic means.”

District President Santosh Date, Akshay Pardeshi, Dastgir Baba Sheikh and others were present. In support of this movement, all the hawkers in the Main Road, Shivaji Road, Shalimar, Saraswati Lane, Dahipool area kept their shops closed.