BMC undeterred by Centre’s plan
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has made it clear that action against illegal hawkers will continue unabated despite the Centre’s directives to go slow on the drive.
Additional municipal commissioner Rajeev Jalota said, “The civic body has not received any such written instructions or directives from the Centre on this issue. Hence, action against illegal hawkers will carry on.”
In a recent visit to the city, Ajay Maken, Union minister for housing and urban poverty, had asked the civic body to show restraint in its drive against illegal hawkers.
“The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill will be passed in the budget session of Parliament. According to the bill, the state and local bodies will have to identify hawking zones in the city. Till then, no action should be taken against illegal hawkers by the civic body or the police,” Mr Maken had said. He had further added that as per the bill, 2.5 per cent of the city’s population could be hawkers and licences would be provided to them.
Raising the issue in the civic general body meeting, the Maharashtra Navn-irman Sena corporator Sandeep Deshpande said, “It’s a blatant attempt to protect illegal hawkers in the city under pressure from some political leaders. People are facing a lot of inconvenience due to unauthorised hawkers.”
Shiv Sena, the ruling party in the BMC, has also opposed the proposed draft of Street Vendors Bill by the Centre. Mayor Sunil Prabhu said, “Considering the city’s mammoth population, we will not agree to the proposal.”
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