Mumbai: A large-scale verification drive launched by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to issue QR code-enabled identity cards to authorised street vendors has uncovered a significant discrepancy in the city’s hawker records. During the exercise, civic authorities found that 3,167 hawkers who were listed as authorised in the 2014 survey have since passed away, prompting the BMC to consider a policy that would allow their vending licences to be transferred to eligible family members.
The verification initiative, which began in May this year, forms part of the BMC’s broader effort to establish a verified and digitally authenticated database of nearly one lakh authorised hawkers across Mumbai. Under the exercise, all 99,345 vendors identified as eligible during the 2014 survey conducted under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act were asked to appear at their respective ward offices for document verification.
According to civic officials, the verification process revealed that 3,167 authorised vendors had died over the past decade. The findings were subsequently presented before the BMC’s Law Committee, where members recommended framing a standard policy for transferring the deceased vendors’ licences to their legal heirs.
Law Committee Chairperson Diksha Karkar said that many of the deceased hawkers had not nominated anyone to inherit their vending rights, making it necessary for the civic body to formulate a transparent Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The proposed mechanism will help officials identify and verify immediate next of kin before approving any licence transfer, ensuring that legitimate beneficiaries continue to enjoy the livelihood originally granted under the law.
The QR code-enabled identity cards are expected to play a crucial role in streamlining street-vending regulation across Mumbai. During the verification process, officials cross-check each hawker’s identity, survey number and designated vending location before issuing the digital ID. Once issued, the QR codes will allow both BMC officials and Mumbai Police to instantly verify whether a vendor is legally authorised, making it easier to distinguish genuine hawkers from illegal encroachments.
So far, approximately 48,000 QR-enabled identity cards have already been issued. Officials said the highest number of verifications has taken place in Dadar, one of Mumbai’s busiest hawking hubs, followed by Colaba, Churchgate and Goregaon.
The verification exercise is also closely linked to the long-pending implementation of Mumbai’s hawkers’ policy. Once the authentication process is completed, the Town Vending Committee (TVC) is expected to identify and allot designated vending pitches and hawking zones across the city.
The draft hawkers’ policy was originally prepared in 2020 but could not be implemented due to disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The process was further delayed after the BMC’s elected civic body was superseded in 2022. Civic officials said work on the policy resumed only after corporators returned to office earlier this year.
With the QR verification drive progressing steadily, the BMC hopes to create a transparent and updated database of authorised hawkers while strengthening enforcement against illegal vending.
