MUMBAI, July 21: Hawkers' unions have given the state government a one week ultimatum to resolve the issue of eviction of hawkers from outside railway stations. If the government fails to decide at the end of seven days, they have threatened to stop the entry of essential commodities into the city from August 3.Thousands of hawkers from across the city and state from the Maharashtra Hawkers' Unions and the Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat's allied unions converged a massive morcha at Azad maidan on Tuesday.Chief Minister Manohar Joshi has called for a copy of the Supreme Court judgement on the constitution of hawkers' zones to verify the claims of mayor Nandu Satam on the issue, stated union leader Sharad Rao at the morcha. Joshi has also reportedly asked for a formal proposal from the unions to constitute a committee, to be chaired by former state secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar, to arrive at a solution for ``disciplined hawking''.The union leaders recommended that the committee include representatives ofthe government, municipality and unions, added Rao. Joshi was reportedly told that any solution which was amicably arrived at would be implemented in toto from January 1, 1999. But union leaders called for a status quo on the issue until then to allow the hawkers to sell their wares at their original places, he added. The CM also reportedly assured the unions that the crisis over the hawkers' livelihood would end well before Ganesh Chaturthi.In the same breath, Rao also sounded caution over reposing faith in the CM's assurances and announced the August 3 agitation. ``Your birthright to work is enshrined in the Indian constitution. No mayor or government can deny this. We will stop vegetables and fruits from entering the city. Rail and rasta rokos will also be undertaken,'' he stated.Mayor Nandu Satam came in for a barrage of criticisms. The leaders sought to remind him of his days as a union leader and of his presidentship of the Dadar Hawkers' Union, which, ironically, he holds even today. ``Thebiggest tragedy is when a union leader becomes the boss. Then he behaves worse than how a boss would,'' they stated.Although the police commissioner had denied the morcha permission, it was later given the go-ahead by deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde, following a talk with Union defence minister George Fernandes, Bombay Hawkers Union president Suresh Kapile said. The morcha earlier converged at August Kranti Maidan , where a wreath was laid at the Martyrs' Memorial. As it wound its way towards Grant Road, a hawker, Phiroze Mohammad fell off the truck and came under its wheels, damaging his right leg badly and he was rushed him to Nair Hospital in a serious condition.
