On the lines of provisions made for easy alterations in transport corridors of the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has given the hawkers’ town vending committee authority to demarcate ven
On the lines of provisions made for easy alterations in transport corridors of the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has given the hawkers’ town vending committee authority to demarcate vending zones in the city, without seeking approval from civic headquarters henceforth.
As per the new provision, once a new hawking/vending zone is decided by the committee, the Development Plan will get amended automatically to accommodate the new area. Presently, the vending committee, which changes allotted vending zones every five years, has to go through a series of approvals from the civic body to formalise the change. The new provision has taken away the process of primary screening that would take place before changing zones, which ideally gave hawkers some time to lodge objections if they had any against the change in hawking areas.
However, defending the BMC decision, an official working with the DP team, said, “The change in hawking zones can happen only from among the zones we have designated in a separate annexure in the DP. We cannot mark hawking zones in the DP as they are a temporary feature.” The official explained that this provision has been made only to do away with bureaucratic hurdles. Areas which are unprofitable for running markets, will not be designated anyway, even if the check is gone.
