What started as a targeted crackdown on suspected infiltrators has opened a Pandora’s box regarding illegal hawkers, hawker mafia networks, poor implementation of the Street Vendors Livelihood Protection Act, 2014, and lack of administrative and political will to regulate the sector, even after a senior civic official attempted to put in place a structured identification system in February 2020.

Senior BJP leader and whistleblower in the Bangladeshi hawker mafia case Kirit Somaiya clarified that the aim of this operation is illegal infiltration.

“Let me clarify. The objection is not against Bangladeshis, but if they are infiltrators without the necessary documents, they become a threat,” Somaiya told HT.

He said it is the clear duty of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to identify such illegal hawkers and the inspection has revealed that organized hawking mafia networks are operating with dubious documents.

“We are separating two things. Illegal hawkers who are unauthorized and they are illegally occupying all the open spaces. They are also coming with structures like carts and it is the duty of the BMC to rein in them,” he said.

Somaiya said BJP councilors have demanded massive cleanliness in railway station areas and other key areas following complaints from citizens.

He said, “The issue is that the BMC has no official register of licensed vendors. The BMC has created a myth that there are 32,000 licensed hawkers. They are cheating the court and the people. Only a few thousands have got licenses. The rest are illegal. That is why the hawker mafia and the BMC employees and the police are all coming under pressure.”

While the mayor’s action has triggered a crackdown against suspected Bangladeshi illegal hawkers, hawkers’ unions argue that the deeper issue lies in policy failures and non-implementation of the Street Vendors Livelihood Protection Act (2014). Mumbai Hawkers Union president Shashank Rao said action against illegal immigrants is necessary but the broader context of hawker regulation should also be considered.

Rao said, “Appropriate action should be taken against Bangladeshi immigrants. There are no two ways about it. If there are any such illegal hawkers or are in any area then they should be identified and government officials should take action. Whether they are hawkers or anywhere else, the illegal immigrants have to go.”

Tracing the history of hawkers in Mumbai, Rao said licenses were first issued about four decades ago to about 15,000 vendors, including 123 vendors from Fashion Street in the 1970s. “They were earlier hawkers near the Gateway of India and the Mumbai Hawkers Union moved the Bombay High Court and then they were shifted to Fort near the Museum and later to Fashion Street. Most of the people started with the clothing business which grew and now there are even unlicensed hawkers,” he said.

According to Rao, the crisis has arisen from poor implementation of the 2014 Street Vendors Act and failure to conduct regular surveys.

“In 2014, a survey was conducted where 99,000 forms were given and 15,000 were recognized as hawkers. Later the list increased to 22,000 and now finally to 32,000. But the Act clearly states that anyone who hawks should be identified and accommodated and the state government should make a policy,” he said.

He pointed out that after the Elphinstone Road stampede in 2017, hawkers were to be kept 100 meters away from railway stations, hospitals and educational institutions, but the implementation remained vague.

“Mumbai hardly has more than 10 feet of footpath. So where will these people sit?” Rao asked.

He said the Act mandates a survey every five years, but no survey has been conducted since 2014. “So now BMC is claiming that all are illegal. The issue is that BMC officials are not following the Act properly and the policy clearly states not to displace them but to protect their livelihood.”

Rao also highlighted the data mismatch, noting that as per the Act hawkers are supposed to constitute 2.5% of the city’s population.

“As per 2011 census, Mumbai has a population of 1.40 crore. So ideally at least 3 lakh hawkers should be allowed. But recognized licensed vendors are only 32,000,” he said, also citing a 2002-03 Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) survey which identified 1.05 lakh hawkers.

Then came the PM Swanidhi scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic which further exposed the discrepancies in the BMC data, Rao said.

“The BMC has given letters of recommendation (LOR) to more than 1.65 lakh hawkers and 1.40 lakh have taken loans. But only 32,000 have been recognized as legal vendors. They are just providing services to the common people and hawkers and the officials are misleading the government,” he said.

He said the issue should be viewed as a socio-economic problem as unemployment and lack of livelihood opportunities have pushed more people towards hawking.

“The number of hawkers is increasing because they do not have jobs or livelihood. Even people from middle-class homes are now selling food and homemade goods.”

Rao also blamed the entrenched hafta system for the failure to resolve the issue.

He said, “Because the authorities get a leeway, there is no intention to resolve the issue. Whenever the Bombay High Court is pulled up, piecemeal action is initiated and after the drive the illegal hawkers return again.”

Veteran civic activist Aftab Siddiqui, who was part of the town vending committee in H West ward, echoed this view, saying, “Political parties, civic authorities, police and the entire nexus benefit from illegal hawkers and the hafta system,” adding that during Ramzan, hawkers had to make payments in between. ₹5,000 more ₹Rs 15,000 per box per week for ten nights.

Rao stressed that recognition and regulation are important to solve the problem. “The hawkers also want to ply their livelihood in peace. Unless you identify them, how can you discipline them? The common Mumbaikar is suffering because this issue is not streamlined. The first step is to identify them as hawkers and then create dedicated hawking zones and only then they can be regulated. The BMC says they cannot make so many pitches. Making pitches is their problem.”

This action has also exposed the network of other illegal hawkers.

In K West ward, assistant municipal commissioner Chakrapani Ale said, “Around 200 carts were seized from Yari Road, Versova and Seven Bungalows last week. Most of the carts were used to sell Chinese food, vegetables, fruits and readymade clothes.”

Abdul Rehman (name changed), a cart driver from Andheri West, said, “The carts are bought on rent for Rs 400-500 per day. A civic official of the ward rents a cart to us with the help of a cart owner. We sell vegetables and fruits on it.”

Junaid Shaikh, an unlicensed hawker from Linking Road, said, “I cannot buy a stall. I pay hafta to the sidewalk mafia of the local area to sell my goods. It is a question of livelihood. Have to give hafta.”

Licensed stall owners have also objected to being clubbed with hawkers.

Civic officials from the licensing department opined about how even licensed stall owners are renting out their stalls to third parties.

Faisal Qureshi, president of Linking Road Stall Owners Association, said, “There are 4,120 licensed stall owners in the city and licensed stall owners do not rent out their stalls to anyone else. Some stall owners are old people who allow relatives to run the stalls. It cannot be denied that some cases exist but it is not in the majority.” He said since the stalls were purchased legally decades ago and stamp duty was paid, there was no loss in renting it out to a third party.

Retired former deputy municipal commissioner DK Jain, who attempted sweeping reforms in 2020, said the intention was to introduce a smart identification system for hawkers.

Jain said, “The intention was to create a system with smart IDs for hawkers, where an illegal hawker could be identified instantly. The BMC was to issue bar-coded identity cards to eligible hawkers and the roads were divided into pink for clothes, green for vegetables and so on.”

However, during the tenure of Uddhav Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government, the exercise was stopped after political parties objected to the lack of corporator representation in the Town Vending Committee and the system was never implemented.

Despite the ongoing crackdown, Rao said both the issues should be addressed together.

Bangladeshi illegal immigrant hawkers should be identified and deported, but Indian nationals should be recognized as hawkers under the Street Vendors Act, he said.

In view of the problem of unemployment, keeping in mind the increasing population, the figure of 32000 should be re-looked from the human aspect.

Experts say the ultimate solution lies in the full implementation of the 2014 Act through regular surveys every five years, identification of hawkers based on population criteria, creation of designated hawkers’ zones and the process of issuing identity cards to hawkers.

As the Mayor’s action gathers pace, the larger reality remains that Mumbai’s hawking problem is no longer just about Bangladeshi infiltrators or illegal vendors, but about a deeply rooted system where policy is in place, reforms have been attempted, yet the issue remains unresolved due to lack of administrative and political will.