PMC waives off municipal fees of hawkers for 237 days the city was in lockdown

“There was a demand to exempt the municipal fees from hawkers from the beginning of the pandemic citing the business of hawkers was completely shut. The amount was around Rs 19.76 crore. However, the civic administration clarified that it would be inappropriate to completely waive off the municipal fee since the start of the pandemic and instead should be waived off when there was complete lockdown,” said Hemant Rasane, chairperson of the standing committee.

He said the municipal fee and the penalty on hawkers that can be waived off will be only for the number of days when there was complete lockdown during the pandemic. “All the authorised hawkers would benefit from the decision to waive off municipal fees on lockdown days. It will be a relief of a total of Rs 12 crore,” Rasane said.

According to the civic administration, there was a complete lockdown in the city for 222 days in 2020-21 and 15 days in 2021-22 so far. “The hawkers would be exempted from paying municipal fees for 237 days which include the penalty and advance payment of fees. Those who have already paid the fees would benefit in the fees to be paid in future,” said Rasane.

Former deputy mayor Siddarth Dhende who had proposed the waiving off municipal fees and penalty for delayed payment from hawkers has welcomed the PMC decision. “We have been demanding the waiving of the municipal fees of hawkers as they are dependent on daily business. Their business was completely shut during the lockdown period and are unable to pay the fees,” he said adding there are around 20,000 authorised hawkers who were doing their business in the city to earn their living.