MUMBAI: Five days after announcing the election results of hawker representatives who would be a part of the eight Town Vending Committees (TVCs) across the city, the BMC has initiated the process of appointing govt and non-govt members on it.Officials said each TVC will comprise 20 members. On the govt side, representatives will be drawn from the police, traffic department and planning authorities, such as Mhada and MMRDA. For non-govt representation, the civic body will soon issue a public advertisement inviting applications from interested stakeholders. These could be citizen representatives or members of NGOs. The BMC chief was briefed on the progress of the process on Thursday. A BMC official said, “We had a review meeting on the future course of action. Once all the names are finalised on the TVC, the same will be notified by the govt.”
There is one TVC and seven others across the civic body’s seven zones. Even as the process of finalising the TVC moves ahead, the civic body has continued its crackdown on unauthorised hawkers. Over the two days on April 2 and 3, Lalbaug’s Mirchi Galli – a spice souk – saw back-to-back civic action. Shops here had for years encroached area nearly 10-15 feet ahead of the shops into public walking space, effectively swallowing up pedestrian walking space. Dayashankar Singh, president of the Azad Hawkers Union, said it’s best if the hawkers are regularised. “The BMC has resorted to blanket evictions. The recent drives in areas such as Mulund, Chembur, Dadar and Crawford Market (Dawa Bazaar), had many vendors being removed without prior verification of their status,” said Singh. Deputy municipal commissioner (special) Vinayak Vispute said formation of TVC is being done following the due process.
