Prominent display of hawkers' licenses made mandatory in Pune

PUNE: The display of hawking licenses on the hand carts and stalls has been made mandatory. The decision about it was taken at a vendors’ committee meeting of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

“Many illegal hawkers and stall owners are operating in the city. Action against them is needed and is being taken. But during the process some authorised hawkers too face the brunt. The civic administration with an aim to bring transparency in the action has given the instructions to the traders. The details of the licenses will have to be placed prominently at the place of business so that identification of the authorised hawkers will be easy,” said a senior official of PMC’s anti-encroachment department.

A press release issued by PMC stated that the presence of licence holder at stall is a must. The relatives of the holders will be allowed to trade on behalf the licence holders. Sub lease or renting out the stall to others will be considered as a violation of the hawkers' policy. Such stall owners will be subjected to action.

The data of PMC says that city has over 20,000 hawkers. They will be rehabilitated in a phased manner. A hawkers’ policy has been drafted to set norms for roadside vendors.

As per the PMC officials the civic body needs to establish 288 hawker zones to accommodate all vendors. The civic body has finalized 190 zones. The remaining 98 are yet to be identified.