Navi Mumbai: Cylinder Blast Outside Airoli Station Prompts NMMC To Form Provisional Town Vending Committee For Hawker Regulation

Navi Mumbai: A cylinder blast at an eatery stall outside Airoli railway station on Tuesday night has prompted Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation to form a provisional ‘Town Vending Committee’ (TVC) for the first time. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, established Town Vending Committees (TVCs) in urban local bodies to implement the Act.

The TVC is tasked with surveying hawkers, demarcating hawking zones, and issuing licenses. TVC is established to regulate street vending in a local area. Its primary function is to identify street vendors, issue vending certificates, regulate vending timings, and ensure the enforcement of rules.

Till date, NMMC had not formed TVC until now when a cylinder blast was reported at an eatery outside Airoli station on Tuesday night. “There were no injuries and hence we have just made a mention of the incident and no case is filed. The blast involved one small cylinder and the stall catered to office goers at Mindspace,” senior police inspector Sunil Waghmare from Rabale MIDC police station said.

“A provisional TVC is being formed as per the orders of NMMC Commissioner. TVC will have representatives of health department, traffic department, police department, politician and people’s representative. The committee will do a survey every five years and mark areas as hawker free and as hawker zone so that all the hawkers can be placed at one place itself. Currently there are 9000 registered hawkers under NMMC,” a NMMC official said.

On Wednesday, action against 150 hawkers were taken by NMMC. “We have been taking regular action against the hawkers and we will continue to do the same,” Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Encroachment) Kailas Gaikwad said.