In the wake of the partial lockdown like situation in Mumbai, the Kamgar Sanrakshan Sammaan Sangh (KSSS) team today, visited the Juhu beach to interact with the hawkers to find out the impact on their business due to prevalent restrictions. Upon inquiry, we were informed that the beach is open for visitors and business only between 5am to 5pm. The actual business starts from 9am and open till 5pm. The usual timing for the business without the restrictions was between 9am to 10pm. The existing restrictions have cut their business hours by 5 hours. No compensation is being offered for this loss of work by the government. We also found out that these hawkers also not registered under the e-shram program.

KSSS team member Bilal Khan and Akhilesh Rao interacting with the hawkers at the Juhu Beach

There are around 200 hawkers on the beach starting from Citizen Hotel to the end of the beach in Juhu. These are stalls of pani puri, dosa, coconut water, kala khatta, wafers etc. Most of these hawkers do not own the business, they share their income to the actual owner as rent -Rs. 200 a day and other Rs. 150 as hafta or chai-pani! What is left as the actual profit/income is very miniscule. The loss of 5 hours from the business hours which also include the peak timing of the business has made the business almost unprofitable.

There is a need provide these hawkers with whatever relief possible to compensate the loss of business hours as well as approach the government to ensure that they are duly compensated.