BMC Moves to Finalise Town Vending Committees as Crackdown on Unauthorised Hawkers Continues in Mumbai

Officials stated that each TVC will comprise 20 members. On the government side, representatives will be drawn from the police, traffic department and planning authorities, including Mhada and MMRDA. For non-government representation, the civic body will soon issue a public advertisement inviting applications from interested stakeholders, including citizen representatives and members of NGOs. The BMC chief was briefed on the progress of the process on Thursday. A BMC official said, “We had a review meeting on the future course of action. Once all the names are finalised on the TVC, the same will be notified by the govt.”

There is one TVC and seven others across the civic body's seven zones. Even as the process of finalising the TVC moves ahead, the civic body has continued its crackdown on unauthorised hawkers. Shops here had for years encroached area nearly 10–15 feet ahead of the shops into public walking space, effectively swallowing up pedestrian walking space.

Dayashankar Singh, president of the Azad Hawkers Union, said it is best if the hawkers are regularised. “The BMC has resorted to blanket evictions. The recent drives in areas such as Mulund, Chembur, Dadar and Crawford Market (Dawa Bazaar), had many vendors being removed without prior verification of their status,” said Singh. Deputy municipal commissioner (special) Vinayak Vispute said formation of TVC is being done following the due process.

The parallel progress of committee formation and enforcement drives underscores a critical phase in Mumbai’s hawker regulation framework, where administrative structuring and ground-level action continue to shape the future of street vending and pedestrian space across the city.