The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has introduced a dedicated WhatsApp complaint facility that enables citizens to report illegal hawking across mumbai. The move follows directions from the Bombay High Court (HC) and is aimed at improving the city's grievance redressal system through technology.
Residents can now use the BMC's WhatsApp chatbot on 8999-22-8999 to report unauthorised hawkers by selecting the "Hawker – Nuisance of Illegal Hawking" option. Complainants are required to share the exact location of the encroachment along with a live photograph, allowing civic officials to verify the complaint and take prompt action.
The feature has been integrated into BMC's recently launched MyBMC MARG (Management and Redressal of Grievances) platform, which brings multiple civic complaint services under one system. Earlier, citizens could report issues such as potholes, roads and other municipal concerns through the 1916 helpline, social media channels and the WhatsApp chatbot, while complaints relating to different departments were handled separately.
Civic officials believe the new option will simplify the reporting process and enable ward offices to respond more efficiently to complaints about unauthorised hawking.
During a hearing before the Bombay High Court on Tuesday, the BMC informed the bench that it has issued QR code-enabled identity cards to 47,723 of the 99,435 hawkers surveyed under the protection of earlier Supreme Court and High Court orders. These smart identity cards are intended to help authorities distinguish authorised vendors from illegal hawkers and strengthen enforcement efforts.
The civic body also informed the court that 13,772 surveyed hawkers had been contacted but failed to visit designated offices to collect their identity cards, while the contact details of 2,755 hawkers were found to be invalid or unreachable.
Senior advocate Anil Singh, appearing for the BMC, assured the court that action would be taken against any hawker found operating in violation of Supreme Court guidelines without waiting for further judicial directions.
Despite the launch of the WhatsApp facility, concerns were raised before the court regarding its effectiveness.
One of the petitioners claimed that filing a complaint about illegal hawking in Colaba through the chatbot took more than 40 minutes and resulted only in automated replies.
The bench of Justices Ajey S. Gadkari and Kamal R. Khata observed that an AI-driven chatbot without proper human oversight could delay grievance redressal.
"If the AI chatbot is responding without monitoring by a senior officer, it may take an hour to register a complaint. Time is money in a city like Mumbai. It will not serve the purpose," the judges remarked orally.
Advocate Jamshed Mistry, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, suggested that the state government establish a dedicated grievance redressal committee to ensure complaints are addressed promptly.
The petitioners argued that instead of making the process easier, the chatbot had become a deterrent by relying heavily on automated responses rather than ensuring timely intervention by senior civic officials, as previously directed by the court.
The BMC also assured the court that it would examine allegations that some hawkers had obtained identity cards using incorrect documents or through the unauthorised transfer of licences.
The High Court is hearing a batch of petitions seeking stricter implementation of regulations governing street vending and stronger action against unauthorised hawking in Mumbai.
On May 6, the Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government and the BMC to issue QR code-enabled identity cards to all 99,435 surveyed hawkers within five weeks. It also instructed the civic body to establish an online portal and a WhatsApp complaint mechanism supervised by a senior officer.
The court clarified that the issuance of identity cards would not determine a hawker's legal eligibility. Their status will be decided separately after the formation of the Town Vending Committee (TVC) in accordance with applicable laws.
On June 10, the court granted the BMC an additional three weeks to complete the process.
The civic body informed the court that it has widely publicised its e-portal, email address and WhatsApp number to encourage citizens to report illegal hawking. The matter is scheduled to be heard again on July 14.
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