Mumbai: BMC to Hold Draw for Women's Reservation in Town Vendor Committee on July 29

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will conduct a draw on July 29 at its headquarters to determine women's representation in the Town Vendor Committee under the Hawker’s Policy. The committee will have eight members, with three reserved for women. The draw will take place at 4 PM on Monday in Committee Room No. 2 at the BMC Headquarters and will be streamed live on the Municipal Corporation's YouTube channel.

According to a senior civic official, the eight representatives in the committee will include Scheduled Castes (1), Scheduled Tribes (1), Minorities (1), Other Backward Classes (1), Disabled (1), and Open Category (3). One-third of these positions, or three, will be reserved for women. The draw to determine the reserved positions for women from these categories will be held on Monday, July 29, 2024, under the supervision of the Election Officer appointed by the Labor Commissioner (Maharashtra State), Mumbai. Additionally, one representative from each street vendor organization will be present during the drawing process.

"The finalized registered street vendor voter list for conducting the election has been published on the Municipal Corporation's website https://portal.mcgm.gov.in as well as in each departmental office (ward),” said Kiran Dighavkar, Deputy Commissioner (Special).

Currently, 32,000 hawkers are eligible to vote. The BMC began developing the hawkers’ policy following the Parliament's passage of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014 and a subsequent Supreme Court order. During a 2016 survey, the BMC identified 1.65 lakh hawkers, though only 99,000 submitted forms. The BMC has designated 400 hawking zones throughout the city.