Context :
Highlights
:
Ø Using GIS, BMC wants
to map hawking pitches for vendors. Since the information will be available
online, locals can check and report violations
Ø BMC inspectors are
collecting information on “ Pitch Dimensions “ and exact location ( mapped by latitude and longitude
)
Ø BMC’s 2014 survey of
hawkers found 11,000 with licenses and an additional 15,000 to be eligible. Thus,
after pitch allotment, the city will officially
have 26,000 hawkers
Why this
skepticism ?
Ø There are
nearly 3 lakh hawkers in Mumbai,
and according to conservative estimates, each pays anywhere between Rs 20 and
Rs 100 in hafta every day.
Ø This means up to Rs 1.5 crore in cash changes
hands every day to protect the
businesses that have taken over Mumbai's streets. / Nov 22, 2017
What is most
likely to happen ?
Ø For
those balance 2.74 lakh hawkers , ( as with those 26,000 licensed hawkers ),
plying their trade, is a “ matter of life and death
“. On the day he cannot hawk, his children will
go to bed without dinner !
Let us not fool ourselves
by thinking that these 2.74 lakh “ Unlicensed “ hawkers can be forced to leave
Mumbai. If anything, this number will keep going up, even as the total length
of Mumbai’s footpath remain the same. Daily collection of hafta is bound to go
up !
Ø After
every complaint, a few hawkers will get removed – but only temporarily for a
few minutes / hours – as we have been witnessing over the years. And, of course
re-appear faster than re-appearance of pot holes on Mumbai roads every monsoon,
mobile app notwithstanding !
How to approach
this “ Humanitarian “ issue ?
Ø Our
attitude will have to change !
Hawkers have as much of a “ Right to Live [ RTL ] “ as anyone of us . From that right
ensues that subordinate right :
To peacefully pursue a legitimate vocation
to earn a living
Ø We
have to find a balance between this RTL of hawkers and the right of pedestrians
to be able to walk on footpaths, with minimum obstruction
Any practical
solution for such a trade-off ?
Ø Yes
! If you cannot lick them, join them
Grant a hawking license to all 3 lakh hawkers ( and all want to become “self-
employed
“), on following terms / conditions / methods :
# Entire Mumbai City will be a “ Hawking Zone “
( why not equal sharing of
inconvenience by all Mumbai residents ) excluding
vicinity of hospital / schools
Pitch-slots
to be allotted on ALL the footpaths of all the roads of Mumbai
# Hawkers will declare themselves “Self- Employed”,
by registering so on BMC web
site
# BMC will issue to them , a hawking license – a plastic card
with,
photo, name, gender, birth-date, address, mobile no, Aadhar No, PAN etc .
Card
will be embedded with a pre-paid / rechargeable FasTag , which will
automatically
transfer to BMC’s bank account, LICENSE FEE, as mandated
# On hawker’s Smartphone ( with BlueTooth / NFC
/ Biometric ), BMC will
install a Mobile App [ HawkWalk ? ], which can
read the FasTag in
the plastic card
and display
( 24x7 ), exact location of that hawker on a
DASHBOARD in the
Central Hawking Control Room of BMC (
much better than rigid Sensor anklets on
feet ! )
# If a hawker uses mobile payment app BHIM for accepting
payments against his
sale ,
5 % of each SALE PROCEED will get
automatically credited to his
monthly License Fee.
This great incentive will accelerate DIGITAL PAYMENTS
and help organize this
totally “un-organized “business sector
# BMC is planning to use a GIS ( Geographic
Information System ) based on
compiling “ PITCH DIMENSIONS “, using “ Latitude “ and “Longitude
“ for each
SLOT
to be allotted , on a given footpath . This is, not only a very cumbersome
process but also difficult to understand
I strongly recommend that BMC consider a
GIS-based service in HAWKWALK
mobile
app, by integrating it with an appropriate API from ,
For details, look up :
It’s simple to integrate what3words by adding one of their extensions into
BMC’s GIS-based app or web service.
# Since ALL hawkers will become LICENSED ,
they will stop paying those daily
HAFTAs to police ! All they have to do is
flaunt their Plastic Card License and tell
the
police officer :
“ I am
taking your photo with my mobile app HAWKWALK and pressing the button,
: This officer wants a bribe : “
End of the HAFTA RAJ
!
Now you know why my suggestion may not get any support in
BMC or from residents of “ Non-hawking Zones “ of Mumbai or from Police !
Related Reading :
A NEW
ECONOMIC ORDER ? aka " Start Up Act - 2015 " [ 12 Sept 2015 ]
LIST
OF SELF EMPLOYED
=======================================================
27 Feb 2020
hcp@RecruitGuru.com
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