MUMBAI, June 24: The ban on hawking imposed by railway authorities may force nearly 500 blind persons, who have been earning their livelihood by selling consumer items on railway stations and bridges in Mumbai, to resort to begging, claim hawkers.

The age-old hafta system has allowed these hawkers to continue with their businesses, though rule 144 of the Indian Railways Act, 1944, implemented two years ago identifies hawking on railway properties as an offence.

However, the decision to bring a special Railway Protection Force (RPF) platoon to curb the menace may deprive the vision impaired of their source of livelihood.

According to Pravin Dandia, Director, Client Services of the National Association for the Blind, more than 500 blind hawkers have been selling consumer goods such as lottery tickets and toys on railway stations for the last two decades. ``These hawkers do not occupy as much space as their sighted counterparts. The latter convert a railway bridge into a virtual shopping mall,'' he said.

Dandia claimed that several representations made by the NAB to the railway minister have fallen on deaf ears, and the verbal assurances given by railway ministers have not done justice to the blind.

Regarding haftas, Dandia alleged that the sighted hawkers face no obstacles as they pay hefty haftas to RPF and other railway authorities. At Dadar station, hawkers cause inconvenience to passengers who wish to commute from the eastern to the western lines, he added. Hemant Patil, who closely interacts with the blind hawkers, told Express Newsline that the solution to this problem as suggested by the NAB was to issue badges or identity cards to the vision impaired on the lines of the shoe-shine persons. This too has been kept in abeyance and no action has been taken yet, claimed Patil.

Suhas Karnik of the Blind Men's Association said the able-bodied hawkers score over the blind as the latter are not able to identify police and railway employees who demand haftas.

Meanwhile, a similar action plan was implemented by railway police a year ago to drive away hawkers from railway bridges. Though initially it was successful, hawkers still continue with their businesses on railway properties, this time with a 30 per cent increase in haftas.

Some hawkers on Bandra railway bridge said they pay 30 percent more than they did earlier. Terming the recent transfer of a senior police official who had strictly implemented the `drive away' operations as a ``blessing in disguise,'' they said things have changed for the better now.

Senior railway officials, however, assert that hawking either by the sighted or by the vision impaired is an offence and would not be tolerated. A senior official requesting anonymity said, ``Hawking is not allowed on railway properties. We cannot allow anybody to encroach on our land and become the bone of contention, thus hampering our effort to provide better amenities to passengers.''

Refuting claims about a special RPF platoon being brought in, a senior railway police official said the current force is enough to curb the hawker menace.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.