If there are only 32,000 legal hawkers in the city then how come Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed loans under PM SVANidhi Yojana to more than one lakh hawkers, asked former opposition leader in BMC Ravi Raja. On January 19, 2023, PM Modi distributed a loan of ₹10,000 each to 1.10 lakh hawkers. The grant was provided based on the certificates issued by the BMC.
Ravi Raja fumes over PM Modi
The ex-Congress corporator fumed over the civic body's decision to allow 32,000 hawkers, who were termed as legal vendors after a survey, to vote in the Town Vending Committee (TVC) election. The committee, which comprises civic chief, representatives from traffic police and various BMC departments, members of hawker association and civic society, plays a crucial role in implementing the rules pertaining to hawkers as well as identifying eligible hawkers. Hence, 32,000 hawkers have been allowed to vote for TVC elections as it's a question of their livelihood.
Averring that the BMC is “messing up” with the hawkers policy, Raja further said that rules say that 2.5 per cent of the total population can do hawking business.
The BMC is in the process of sending the list of 32,000 hawkers to the labor commissioner for getting their names stamped for TVC election. However, Raja has demanded that the civic administration should wait till the election of corporators, which is long overdue.
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