The street hawkers in Nashik city will not have to pay bribes to the gangsters or anti-encroachment department officials of the civic body now as a private organisation has begun their survey according to the hawkers’ policy of the Union government, under which they will get a permanent place for business. The illegal hawkers have created problem in most of the cities. They not only deprive pedestrians of their privileged space but also create hassles for traffic. Apart from this, the hawkers have to pay bribes to the goons in the area to get the place and maintain their claim on the place.
According to the policy, the survey of all the city hawkers will be conducted where their details like name, address, place of business, nature of the business, duration of business in years, daily timings of the operations and category will be noted. Their photographs and biometric identification details will also be obtained. Afterwards, they will be issued identity cards and eventually will be shifted to the permanent location and allotted shops. There will be reservation for special categories like women and handicapped persons. Each hawker will get one meter by one meter space. If there are more hawkers at one place, they will be assigned the shop which will be operated in two shifts. This is expected to free the city streets of illegal hawkers and end the malpractices. According to a survey done by the Nashik Municipal Corporation three years back, there were around 4,500 hawkers in the city. It is expected that the number has grown by three to four folds, up to 12,000 to 15,000 so far. The NMC has not issued business licenses to them which makes their operations illegal. But the new policy is expected to change this situation.
