Maharashtra Government on Tuesday took a decision for carrying out a new hawkers’ survey in Mumbai. It was done in 2014 and later due in July 2019 but it was not done. Later, the government had proposed in February 2020 that a new survey would be carried out but it could not be held because of the present coronavirus pandemic.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has asked the BMC to hold a fresh survey by giving representation to the corporators and office bearers of the Prabhag Samitis in a bid to make it more comprehensive. BMC will soon decide the time schedule for the same.
The urban development department told Free Press Journal that it was mandatory for BMC to conduct a hawkers’ survey every five years as per the provisions of the Street Vending Act. The last survey was done in 2014. He informed that the survey, which was completed in 2015, had found over 99,000 hawkers eligible for licence and rehabilitation. Subsequently, the state government ahead of civic polls in February 2017 approved the hawkers’ policy and allowed anyone with a domicile certificate to be eligible for a hawking license.
Thereafter, the number of eligible hawkers was reduced to 17,000 from 99,000.
