Shillong: More than 250 hawkers packed the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Hall in Shillong on Wednesday. They brought piles of paperwork to a public hearing following a five-day social audit of the Khyndailad MUDA Complex Hawkers Market. The audit ran from September 25 to 29 under the C&AG–CRISP pilot program. Officials from the Accountant General’s Office reviewed survey slips, bank records, and Certificates of Vending to verify hawker claims.
Discrepancies define the current mess. Audit findings show names and stall numbers do not match official logs. Some vendors hold valid documents but the city lists them as not surveyed. Others suffer through a two-year wait for a certificate. One vendor visited municipal offices more than 20 times to resolve their status. Another hawker resorted to a seven-day hunger strike to get attention. Deputy AG Binod Bhujel noted the lack of official response. He stated, "Where grievances receive no response, accountability is diluted."
City authorities stayed away. Nobody from the Urban Affairs Department, the municipal office, or MUDA showed up to answer for the gaps. Hawkers reported chaotic stall assignments where promised locations shifted without notice. Operators frequently do not match the names on the certificates. Financial issues plague the group, too. Relocation payments varied wildly between ₹6,000 and ₹18,000. Many vendors said their income plummeted after they moved into the complex. They pointed to poor ventilation, bad drainage, and low footfall as primary killers of their business.
The audit also flagged a total lack of unique identification numbers for vendors. The jury will now weigh these field findings against government records. They plan to draft final recommendations and hold follow-up meetings to demand action. For now, the hawkers wait for the state to bridge the gap between promises and the reality on the ground.
Comments