MUMBAI: The QR code-based identity cards soon to be issued to Mumbai’s 99,435 eligible hawkers will offer no protection from eviction. These vendors will continue to be vulnerable to civic eviction drives if they obstruct traffic or pedestrians, deputy municipal commissioner (special) said Vinayak Vispute told HT.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is scheduled to hand out identity cards to eligible hawkers in various civic wards from June 10, a process expected to be completed by June 15. The QR code will record information provided by hawkers including their names, addresses and locations where they vend.
“The identity cards are not a licence to sell on the streets. As per court orders, these hawkers will have to follow disciplined hawking. If they disturb traffic flow, the BMC can act against them,“ said Vispute. “Only Mumbai’s 10,350 licenced hawkers will be protected from anti-hawker drives.”
QR-code based ID cards are being issued as part of a plan to rehabilitate Mumbai’s street vendors. They will be given to hawkers listed during a 2014 survey conducted when the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, took effect. However, the issue of rehabilitating hawkers has met with legal hurdles; now the Bombay High Court has mandated that the vendors be issued ID cards.
The plan to rehabilitate the city’s hawkers includes the setting up of Town Vending Committees (TVCs), which will earmark the hawking zones in a locality and also determine the number of hawkers that can be accommodated in each of them.
Vispute said the composition of the eight TVCs, including seven zonal committees and one apex committee, is ready. These names will be sent to the state government in about a week’s time.
“The TVC will come into force once the state government issues a notification. Once operational, the TVC will determine the total number of hawkers, locations of hawking zones in various wards, and the status of the 8-10,000 hawkers who will have to be relocated since they fall into the 20 non-hawking zones,” he said.
Meanwhile, some members of the ruling BJP in the BMC are demanding that the QR code-based ID cards be issued subject to police verification. Ganesh Khankar, BJP’s leader of the house in the BMC, said, “Police verification is needed to screen genuine, eligible hawkers and ensure that identity cards are not handed over to random outsiders. It is better to be safe than sorry.”
Khankar was backed by others like standing committee members Tejinder Singh Tiwana, who said: “Against the backdrop of fake birth certificates procured with fake documents, issuance of ID cards could create serious issues for national security as Bangladeshi nationals could use them as proof of nationality .” The BJP was, however, not supported by its allies such as the Shiv Sena, which said hawkers hail from all communities and it is unfair to label all of them as Bangladeshis.
However, Vispute said, “There is no provision of police verification.”
Congress group leader in the BMC, Ashraf Azmi, too said Mumbai is a city of dreams and accommodates the aspirations of many. He added, “Hawkers are an unorganised sector. If the BMC were to conduct a survey on the exact number of hawkers today, the figure would be much higher than the 99,435 that has been found. Hence, BMC should issue ID cards and then conduct a fresh survey so that people can earn their livelihood.”
