Delay in hawking regularisation on purpose; would hit extortion rackets: Azad Hawkers Union

Despite civic body driving away hawkers time and again, they keep coming back again. Residents believe a nexus of BMC officials and local politicians are facilitating this for their personal gains.

Hawker unions claim that the whole process has been delayed intentionally as a section of people do not want hawking to get streamlined. Dayashankar Singh, president of Azad Hawkers' union alleged that hundreds of crores of 'hafta' is involved here. "If hawkers get a license as well as a place to conduct their business, people involved in extortion rackets will suffer huge losses," said Singh.

Sandip Deshpande, a senior leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), is planning to seek mandatory CCTV vigilance around 150 radius of railway stations. Deshpande said, "BMC officials deny having any nexus with politicians… Now, we are planning to approach the High Court to make CCTV vigilance around railway station premises mandatory."

This is evident from the fact that even after a year, despite holding a number of meetings with stakeholders, the allotment of hawking pitches have not begun. The process of scrutinising forms received from hawkers to support their claim is still underway and the BMC found only 5,000 hawkers to be eligible.

On Saturday, the interim town vending committee of zone 6 had to face the ire of shopkeepers and others when they visited some parts of Ghatkopar to identify pitches. There are around 210 hawking pitches there. Singh said that the administration needs to identify the people who are obstructing the process.

ALLEGATIONS

• Hawker unions claim that the whole process has been delayed intentionally as a section of people do not want hawking to get streamlined.