PUNE: According to the rules set by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in 2014, the PMC Anti-Encroachment Department has announced that all street vendors and hawkers will have to shut their stalls by 10 pm.
Those who fail to do so will be considered as doing business illegally and face action.
The Pune Municipal Corporation authorities have started taking strict action against hawkers and vendors by not allowing them to do business after 10 pm in the city.
PMC Encroachment Department Head Madhav Jagtap said, “As part of the drive, we formed a team, and in the last three days, we identified and took action against 80 hawkers who are doing business illegally.”
Since the past two months, the PMC has taken measures to remove the illegal hawkers, and move the legal ones to the by-lanes of housing societies and in the selected food zone areas.
Jagtap said the hawkers are allowed to keep their stalls open till 10 pm, but many violated the norms and there were many complaints in this regard.
“Many hawkers are occupying unallotted spaces on the road at night time as there is no watch over them at that time. Eatery stalls are throwing half-eaten food on the streets, and sometimes doing business without licence,” said Jagtap.
He added, “We received complaints that the food stalls litter the road. Therefore the authorities took strict action against the hawkers. A fine has been levied on violators, and we have asked them to shut down their stalls.”
Decision will impact students, foodies
Many roads such as Fergusson College (FC) Road, Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Road, Jangli Maharaj (JM) Road are popular for late night eateries. Students are expected to be affected the most.
Aishwarya Bhujade, a student from Amravati who lives in Narayan Peth and is preparing for the competitive examination said, “We study till late at night at the reading halls, and we depend on these food carts for late night options. However, if these stalls shut at 10, it would be a problem for students who need tea, coffee, milk and other eatables during study hours.”
Mayank Ahuja, an MBA student of the MIT College who lives in Kothrud said, “During late night study hours we go to late night stalls for tea or snacks break. Many of us depend on taking small meals from these stalls. This PMC move will cause inconvenience to us.”
