Authorised street vendors in Pune are facing ₹750 penalties after allegedly receiving their quarterly fee bills after the payment deadline, prompting the NGO Jaaniv to demand immediate action from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Jaaniv has submitted a memorandum to the mayor and the municipal commissioner, who also chairs the Town Vending Committee, seeking cancellation of the penalties, a six-month extension for payment and permission to pay the outstanding fees in instalments.
According to the memorandum, vendors were required to pay their fees in advance for October, November and December by October 20. Jaaniv claims that the bills had not been distributed through PMC ward offices even by October 24, leaving vendors without the documents needed to make payment within the prescribed period.
Sanjay Shanke, Maharashtra state secretary of Jaaniv and a member of the Town Vending Committees of the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, has questioned how vendors could be expected to comply with the deadline when the fee bills were not delivered on time.
The organisation said vendors who later approached the civic authorities to pay their dues were charged an additional ₹750 penalty over the original fee. Jaaniv has argued that vendors should not bear the financial consequences of a delay attributed to the PMC’s Encroachment Department.
The dispute places the administrative process for authorised street vending at the centre of the issue. Vendors depend on timely billing and clear payment instructions to remain compliant with civic requirements, while the penalty has been imposed on those who, according to Jaaniv, were unable to pay because the bills had not reached them before the deadline.
Jaaniv has also demanded that the penalty amounts be recovered from officials responsible for the alleged delay in distributing the bills. The organisation has asked the mayor and municipal commissioner to intervene and ensure that the vendors are not made to pay for an administrative lapse.
In addition to the proposed six-month extension, the NGO has sought an instalment facility for authorised street vendors. It said the arrangement would reduce the immediate payment burden on vendors affected by the delayed billing process.
The memorandum calls for an early decision on the penalty waiver, the extended payment period and instalment-based payments. The report does not include a response from the PMC or details of any decision taken by the mayor, municipal commissioner or Town Vending Committee.
