Mumbai street vendor caught between BMC drive and daily customers

Vijay Raut, a cutting chai vendor in Mahim, Mumbai, lost his stall to a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) anti-encroachment drive and now serves tea from a flask to regular customers, afraid to put his structure back up. He paid Rs 1,100 to reclaim the wooden stall but says he has no secure place to operate. His wife is eight months pregnant and his father is in intensive care.

Raut's situation reflects a wider paradox: India's street food vendors, estimated by the National Association of Street Vendors of India to generate Rs 8,000 crore daily, occupy footpaths informally yet serve millions of workers and commuters. Formalising them could raise prices and cut off the poor they serve, architect Chandrashekhar Prabhu notes. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India already runs a Clean Street Food programme with hygiene standards for small operators, but vendors like Raut lack basic infrastructure like potable water and washing facilities.

The revised FSSAI licensing framework, effective from April 1 this year, aims to bring street vendors under regulation while offering training. For Raut, the immediate next step is whether the BMC will designate a legal vending zone that lets him resume selling without fear of losing his stall again.