Mumbai: Nearly 500 stall owners, under the banner of the Adarsh Stall Holders Union, gathered outside the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) office in Matunga on Friday, to put forward their demands for transfer of licence, commodity change and permission to pay monthly rent.
At a recent meeting, the union also decided to create a committee for every ward.
Transfer of licence
“There were around 16,000 licences issued all over Mumbai. Earlier, our licences could be transferred; the municipal corporation used to take 15,000 to 40,000 as the transfer fee. The commodities we sell were changed as well, but slowly they stopped changing the commodities and they no longer transfer our licences,” union member Ajay Kumar said.
Mr. Kumar said those who are not earning enough by selling goods that are becoming obsolete want to opt for a commodity change, but the BMC does not allow it.
Fear of action
“Those who have spent lakhs of rupees to buy a stall are worried that if they change their nature of the business, their stalls will be brought down. They are just looking for reasons to drive us away; several stalls have been deprived of their private space and labelled as hawkers,” he said.
Prakash Ghag, an electronic goods seller in Chunnabhatti, said the BMC demolished his stall with no prior notice even though he has a licence.
Sanjay Thapar, a member of the north ward committee, said, “The problem is that only if the holder of the licence is present, the stall is considered to be legal. This discourages stallholders from selling their business.”
