MUMBAI, June 15: Even before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) formally announces the demarcation of no-hawkers zones in the city, the scheme has run into rough weather with the hawkers' unions preparing to oppose it's implementation tooth and nail.

Leader of the Bombay Hawkers' Union, Shankar Salvi, told Express Newsline: ``We have been holding discussions on this issue with top civic officials in all the 23 administrative wards of Mumbai. Still, our disputes have not been solved even in a single ward.''

He added, ``There are a few roads which hawkers have agreed to shift to, but such cases are rare. How can the BMC propose to shift hawkers to places which are kilometres away from where they have been doing business for long?''

Salvi said the working committee of the union will meet at its Girgaum office on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the issue. ``We will launch a mass agitation if hawkers are forced to shift,'' he threatened.

According to sources, the BMC top brass is keen to implement the scheme in full swing from this week. BMC has claimed that if implemented, the no-hawkers' zones will ease the congestion in Mumbai to a great extent.

Municipal Commissioner Girish Gokhale is expected to make a formal statement in this regard before the BMC general body on Monday.

Final touches were given to the demarcation plans by Gokhale in a meeting attended by all ward officers, additional municipal commissioners V Ramani and Ratnakar Gaikwad and a few top officers of Mumbai police.

Gokhale has directed ward officers to display detailed maps and charts specifying areas and roads where hawking will be banned. Such maps and charts are likely to be displayed at all ward offices in the city from this week. Ratnakar Gaikwad, who is in charge of the Western suburbs, told Express Newsline: ``The entire scheme is now ready and its implementation will start from Monday. The shifting of hawkers will begin next week.''

Gaikwad explained the demarcation has been finalised in consonance with a Supreme Court order passed 13 years ago, which directed the state government and the BMC to design no-hawkers zones in Mumbai to ease congestion.

``As per the scheme, licence-holders of BMC shops and establishments will be given preference in shifting to the new hawkers zones. The day-to-day hawkers who conduct business on city roads by paying daily charges to the BMC will then be accommodated in the hawkers zones. Lastly, if there is any space left, it will be given to unauthorised hawkers,'' Gaikwad said.

``If hawkers fail to shift even after the charts are displayed at ward offices, strict action will be taken against them and their wares will be confiscated,'' he added.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.