BMC revealing complainant details to errant hawkers: activists

Mumbai: Mumbaikars who complain about unauthorised hawkers and vendors have been facing much harassment in recent weeks, with hawkers calling them and urging or even threatening them to take back their complaints, including via social media. Activists and citizens’ forums allege this is happening because the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been sharing details about complainants with errant hawkers and asking them to ‘sort out’ the matter mutually, in breach of privacy laws. Officials from the civic body, though, say that since it is a public office, there was nothing wrong in sharing information about complainants, but if hawkers were indeed calling and harassing them, they should report the matter to the police.

On February 17, when Chetan Kamble, an activist from Dadar, complained about hawkers in G North ward along Senapati Bapat Marg using gas stoves in contravention of laws, he started getting calls from unknown numbers the very next day, with random people asking him not to raise complaints about hawkers in the area.

“I even got messages from people who run hawking businesses in the area via Instagram. They also contacted my friends and family members to make me understand and not complain against them,” he said.

Chirag Shah from the Wadala Matunga Sion Forum and Hemal Mehta from the Santacruz East Residents’ Association (SERA) shared similar stories.

Shah said that when a local resident member complained about encroachment last month, he was tracked down and threatened by the footpath encroachers. “We have now stopped revealing individual identities and complain only through collective forums. But even that too is becoming difficult,” he said.

Hemal Mehta from SERA said, “Last year when I complained about a specific hawker who was using gas cylinders on the footpath, he came to my home, and showed me the chat where the encroachment department official had asked him to ‘sort out’ the complaint with me. The hawker knew me, so he showed the chat.”

Nishant Mody, a Kandivali resident, also reported hawkers reaching out to him following complaints, with requests to settle the matter. “I used to keep tweeting about illegal hawkers. But one day, a hawker reached out to me through an anonymous account, asking to settle the issue. It is difficult to pin the blame on BMC officials, but yes, it is difficult to raise hawkers’ issues through social media platforms now.”

Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder, Mumbai North Central District Forum (MNCDF) said transparency and accountability are the two pillars of a just society. “Sharing a complainant’s details with illegal hawkers is not only a breach of privacy but also constitutes a criminal offence or act done in furtherance to a criminal conspiracy with a motive to demolish the very purpose and efficacy of public grievances,” he said.

A senior official from the civic body, however, said that since the BMC was a public office, information about complainants could very well be accessed by illegal hawkers. “On one side, people talk about the right to information and on the other side, they want everything to be anonymous,” said the official.

He stated that if hawkers were indeed reaching out to complainants and asking them to take back the complaints, it was a clear offence. “This is a law-and-order situation, and the police should be informed. We should not tolerate hawkers reaching out to complainants and coercing them into withdrawing complaints.”