All the citizens of Mumbai are fed-up with the growing number of illegal hawkers taking over all the foot-paths and open spaces of Mumbai city. The Municipal Corporation and police and the various political parties seem weak and unable to stop this menace. And it is a menace of huge proportions because most of the hawkers are from Bangladesh.
So, why is the Government so weak and ineffective in front of these illegal immigrants? It’s the money, big amounts of money.
A rather unscientific survey in 2010 – 11, states that Mumbai has more than 8 lakh (800 thousand) illegal hawkers spread over 227 municipal wards. These hawkers pay off the Police, the municipal officers and the local political parties for the right to occupy our city’s foot-paths & open spaces. Payment is either daily (for floating hawkers who move from ward to ward) to weekly payments by those who set up stalls either during rush hours or specific days of the week. Semi – permanent and almost permanent stall owners / operators pay on monthly basis and in some cases of large turnover, on a profit sharing basis.
These amounts of payments range from as little as Rs. 2000 ($ 42) to Rs. 50,000 ($ 1064); on a monthly basis.
Assuming an average amount of Rs 5,000 per hawker per month for 800 thousand hawkers; the monthly corrupt money economy is Rupees 40 Crores ($ 85 million) which works out to Rs 480 Crores ($ One hundred million plus) per year.
This entire amount bypasses the City Treasury and makes its way straight to the pockets of those who are supposed to stop this illegal activity. This is the reason that the illegal hawkers menace is not controlled or stopped by the Government officials. It’s their “super income” and it is fully tax free.
And who are the real culprits behind this menace? We, the People. It is we, the people who buy goods from these illegal hawkers at cheaper than store prices and think that we are being smart. But in reality, we are the idiots who lose a lot, to gain a little.
