The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has started issuing QR code-enabled licences to authorised hawkers across Mumbai in a major push towards digitising and streamlining the city’s street vending system. The move comes amid mounting pressure from the Bombay High Court over the continued rise of illegal hawking across the city.
The newly introduced licences contain QR codes that can be scanned to access details such as the hawker’s name instantly, approved vending location, and the category of goods permitted for sale. Civic authorities believe the digital system will make it easier for enforcement officials and citizens to identify authorised vendors while helping curb unauthorised street vending.
The initiative follows recent observations made by the Bombay High Court, which criticised the civic administration for its inability to regulate illegal hawkers despite repeated directions over several years. During a hearing held on May 5, the court suggested implementing a QR code-based identification mechanism to clearly distinguish licensed hawkers from unauthorised vendors operating across the city.
Following the court’s recommendation, the BMC has begun distributing digital licences to existing authorised stall owners and is now preparing to extend the system to all hawkers identified during the 2014 hawker survey.
However, civic officials acknowledge that implementing the project within the five-week deadline set by the court poses a significant administrative challenge. According to officials, the 2014 survey recorded nearly 99,435 hawkers across Mumbai, but the corporation currently has verified data for only around 32,000 licensed or eligible vendors.
As a result, the BMC will first undertake a large-scale verification exercise to determine whether previously surveyed hawkers are still active and whether their records remain valid or require updates. Once the verification process is completed, QR-enabled identity cards will be issued in phases.
Officials stated that the civic body had initially sought two months to complete the process, but the timeline was later reduced to five weeks following discussions before the court. Authorities are now accelerating verification and registration procedures to ensure that only eligible hawkers receive the new digital licences while complying with the court-mandated deadline.
The move is expected to mark a significant shift in how Mumbai regulates street vending and manages public spaces in densely populated commercial areas.
Source: Mumbai Live
