Mira-Bhayandar hawker ID cards handed out by market fee contractor without informing committee

Questions have been raised once again over hawker management at the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation. The corporation has formally constituted a town vending committee. Even so, the contractor who collects market fees began distributing identity cards to hawkers without informing the committee. The question now being asked is whether making or distributing hawker identity cards is the responsibility of the market fee contractor, and who gave the contractor that authority.

When committee member Omprakash Gadodia learned of this, he immediately lodged an objection with the hawker department. On Monday, committee members went to the corporation's hawker department and registered strong objection to the distribution of the cards. Following the committee's objection, the hawker department asked the market department to issue a show-cause notice to the contractor concerned. It has emerged that the market department has issued the notice.

The committee is chaired by Commissioner Radhabinod Sharma himself. Committee members allege that such an important process concerning hawkers was run on the contractor's own initiative without taking the committee into confidence. It is said that the market department is responsible for collecting market fees from hawkers, and that through the same department the contractor collecting the fee was also entrusted with distributing identity cards. However, there is still no clarity on whether there is a written order, and if so who issued it, with whose permission the cards were printed, who bore the cost, and who gave the contractor the authority to distribute them. This has raised questions about the transparency of the entire process.

According to the corporation's survey, 8,528 hawkers in the city have been found eligible. Committee members have demanded an inquiry into how many hawkers the contractor has so far given identity cards to, how many cards were printed, and whether any money was taken from hawkers for this. They say that if there is any complaint or talk of money being taken from hawkers in the name of distributing identity cards, it should be investigated separately. These allegations have not been officially confirmed so far.

The market fee collection contract is said to have been given to M/s ODS Protective Services Pvt. Ltd. of Andheri. Committee members claim that questions have been raised about this contractor's work earlier too. Some objections are also being cited regarding the contract, the method of collection and its duration. For this reason, the demand for an inquiry into how the additional responsibility of distributing identity cards came to this contractor is gaining strength. Committee members also claim that the committee was not told before the cards were printed, and that the hawker department also had no prior knowledge of it.

Gadodia has taken the matter seriously and complained to the municipal commissioner. He has demanded a thorough inquiry into the printing and distribution of the cards, the related orders, the authority given to the contractor and the possible collection of money from hawkers. A demand has also been made for strict action, including suspension, against any officials and employees found guilty.

The town vending committee and thousands of hawkers in the city are now watching whether Commissioner Radhabinod Sharma will order a separate inquiry into the matter and act against those responsible, or whether the matter will be allowed to cool down with just a notice.