Smart IDs in hand yet facing eviction, say authorised street vendors in Mumbai
Authorized street vendors in Mumbai are struggling to conduct business despite receiving government-issued smart ID cards. While the BMC claims these cards protect licensed hawkers from eviction, vendors report that police continue to harass them and treat them as unauthorized.
Why it matters
It highlights the gap between administrative policy implementation and ground-level enforcement in urban governance.
Holding up her laminated QR code-enabled ID card, Maya Satheliya, 52, said, “This card is not helping me as it holds no value in the eyes of the police.”
Ms. Satheliya hails from Gujarat’s Bhavnagar and has been running an authorised garment stall with her husband in Mumbai’s Borivali suburb for the past 35 years. She said the ID card was issued to her husband in June, but the “police treat us like robbers”.
“When the police aren’t around, we make a sale; when we see their car, we run like rats and they trail us. For the past one and a half years, business has been like this. Even after getting the card, there has been no change,” she said.
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