Panel to demarcate zones for hawkers, issue licences

Seeking to de-congest roads in the city, a committee under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner will demarcate hawking zones and issue licences. It can also cancel permits of those not complying with the rules. The committee will also comprise hawkers’ representatives. The urban development department has recently approved a hawkers’ policy in the form of an ordinance that will make it compulsory to demarcate hawking zones.

The Town Vending Committee is expected to decide the hawking or vending zones. “The committee will recommend to the local authority an area in its jurisdiction for declaration of a non-vending area and to identify sites and spaces for vending,” the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 said.

The Act has been moved with a view to regulate the control of hawkers in the area of the local authorities in the state, it said.

The committee will also decide the timing during which hawkers or vendors carry out their trade. “To regulate timings for vending to ensure non-congestion of public spaces and to ensure enforcement of corrective mechanism against defiance by street vendors,” the Act said.

The committee has been given the right to conduct surveys within the area of its jurisdiction and identify street vendors in the area to ensure their accommodation in accordance with the norms. It also can issue a certificate of vending to an eligible street vendor after obtaining an undertaking from him that he will comply with the terms and conditions, the Act said.