Hawker Nuisance – Hidden Members of the Gang

Hawker Nuisance – Hidden Members of the Gang....................Shrikant Soman

We are very familiar of the nuisance of the Hawkers. They occupy the valuable space on the footpath and road causing traffic problems and leaving little space for the pedestrians. They also cause garbage on the road.

We usually blame the police, municipal authorities, local Bhai (goon) and the politicians for this nuisance. These are only the 4 members of the gang. Actually there is also a fifth member hidden from the public gaze. He is the Social Activist (SA) who make a hue and cry for this nuisance in the first place. I have learned it from my first hand experience in tackling the problem in our area. Here is how it goes.

Step 1 : The SA gathers public opinion against the hawker menace.
Step 2 : He takes up the issue with the authorities – police, municipality. He leaves the Bhai untouched for obvious reasons.
Step 3 : The Local authorities take effective steps to remove the hawkers.
Step 4 : The hawkers approach the local politician or the Bhai for being a savior.
Step 5 : The Politician / Bhai pressurizes the municipal authorities for ‘taking it easy’ with the hawkers.
Step 6 : The municipal authorities throw up their hands, expressing their helplessness as the issue is now in the ‘public domain’ with the SA taking an active role in this drama.
Step 7 : The Politician / Bhai then approaches the SA for taking a more humanitarian stand.
Step 8 : The Hawkers Gherao (Human Blockade – indigenous style !) the SA for being the cause of putting their livelihood at stake.
Step 9 : The SA, the Politician, the Bhai, the municipal authorities and the police then make a ‘mandavali’ (private underground ‘financial settlement’) of this whole affair. The SA is then onwards included in the ‘hafta’ (the periodical underground payment in exchange for peace) schedule.
Step 10 : Hawkers are back to business. All the above parties continue to play the game in order to make a smokescreen for the public at large. The SA makes a public scene about his resentment for the lax attitude of the authorities in handling the hawkers menace. He is usually more dramatic than before – lest somebody may have a suspicion of he having joined the gang.

The above steps are usually followed with minor variations and some cross jumps. But it definitely follows the same PATTERN.
I have found to my surprise that usually the municipal authorities are RESPONSIVE to the demands of the public as represented through the SA. They are helpless in this whole drama as explained above. I have actually come across the street enactment of the above drama in a very much theatrical way.

When I was involved in this action, I took a camera with me. I took photographs of the hawkers and how they create problems by blocking the space and littering with garbage. I sent these photographs to the authorities as a proof. This worked very effectively. The authorities were cornered. I made written complaints and made consistent and systematic follow-up. This produced good results. The authorities were very much responsive. The rest followed the above mentioned 10 step ‘procedure’ of peaceful settlement. The only difference was that somebody else SA ‘gained’ standing on my shoulders. Though I kept myself out of the dirty deal, I felt very sad for the whole episode. I can not do much as this is the way the ‘System’ works. I need a team of dedicated firebrand and honest SA. This is a distant dream at present. But I have not given up.

There is also a SIXTH MEMBER in this System. And he is the Public at Large. When the authorities start rounding up the hawkers, invariably some members of the local residents protest to the authorities in SUPPORT of the hawkers. They say that it is a great convenience to the local residents as the hawkers offer day to day conveniences near to the place of residence. Without them, the residents would have to go to the markets few hundred metres away wasting away precious 5 minutes in the process ! There is then a division amongst the public itself. One section supporting the hawkers and other section opposing the hawkers. The SA in between eats the cake and has it too. The word 'hawker' can be taken as a metaphor. It also includes the encroachment by the shopkeeper in the space in front of his shop, any illegal activity in the shop, hookah parlour, liquor shop, ladies service bar and restaurant.
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Note of Caution
The above note is based on my actual experience over a period of time at different locations with different people. However, I have rearranged the details, incidences, locations and people from a diverse motley of facts to make a meaningful, interesting and compact presentation, while at the same time not sacrificing the truth in general. It does NOT relate or restricted to any specific location or person and should not be used to draw inferences about the same. This explanation is necessary in order to be fair with honest and dedicated people who are also working in this field.