Shashank Rao, President of MHU, said that the civic body should first implement the National Hawkers Policy of 2014, which has been pending for the last three-and-a-half years
On a day when Congress and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers kept the police busy in Dadar, around 3,000 hawkers from across the city under the banner of Mumbai Hawkers Union (MHU) staged a protest at Azad Maidan against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) action against them. The hawkers demanded that they should be allowed to carry on with their business around railway stations and on foot-overbridges. The hawkers' union also demanded formation of the Town Vending Committee (TVC) immediately.
Shashank Rao, President of MHU, said that the civic body should first implement the National Hawkers Policy of 2014, which has been pending for the last three-and-a-half years.
He added that the civic body has not issued fresh licence for the past 35 years and claimed that the city has only 15,000 licensed hawkers.
"Instead of taking action against hawkers, the BMC should implement the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014," said Rao.
Rao added that there are 3 lakh street vendors in the city and around 80 per cent of them are women. "As per Supreme Court order dated September 9, 2013, and Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, they have right to do their business," said Rao.
According to the union, hawkers were not responsible for the Elphinstone Road stampede on September 29, and they said that even an inquiry has not been able to establish that they were at fault.
A delegation of the MHU also met AL Jarhad, Additional Municipal Commissioner, and demanded that the TVC be formed and action against hawkers be stopped.
A meeting of the hawkers union and civic administration has been slated for November 6 to discuss the issue.
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