The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has set a deadline of November 30 to complete hawking pitches, and send it to the town vending committee (TVC) for approval. Senior civic officials have already asked wards to start marking pitches soon after getting approval from the TVC.
Hawking pitches of two zones--Zone V and Zone VII has already been finalised and even the marking is also done in some areas. Process of remaining zones are under process.
"We have instructed to complete hawking pitches in remaining zones by November 30 and accordingly we will put it before the TVC in the December first week meeting for approval," said a senior civic official.
According to the official, at present, eligible hawkers will get registered with the BMC and will be given certificate to carry on their business at the designated space. The official further added that smart cards will be issued.
In the first week of October, the BMC had already marked around 500 pitches on Lokmanya Tilak Road, Chandvarkar Road, Borivali, Gorai, Bhattad Road, and Devidas Road. "We have already marked pitches in Zone V and Zone VII after zonal committee sanctioned over 2000 pitches measuring one square metre," said the official. He added that if there are more hawkers than pitches, shift-wise pitches will be given.
According to new law of Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending Act, the local body has to formed the TVC as per the a government directive. As mandated, the BMC formed TVC for seven zones and for the city.
After Elphinstone Road stampede, the Removal of Encroachment department of BMC had demarcated line outside the stations to ensure hawkers adhere to the high court order of staying away from a 150-metre radius of the station.
However, it was observed that hawkers came back to the same place after a few months. Hawkers alleged that they were not given place despite they are eligible to get. The civic body had identified 89,900 pitches in 1100 zones, to accommodate 99,435 hawkers.
