No permission for street vendors & hawkers in Maharashtra; govt cites 'regulation' concern

On Monday, the Maharashtra government informed the Bombay HC that it doesn't intend to permit street vendors and hawkers to conduct their business amid the COVID-19 crisis. The court was hearing a plea filed by Manoj Oswal over the street vendors being without income owing to the lockdown. In June, the Bombay HC had asked the state government to clarify its position on the matter and suggested that a policy could be framed. 

In its affidavit, the Maharashtra government noted that it is very difficult to regulate street vendors and hawkers as they fall in the unorganized sector. It added that street vendors and hawkers could not be allowed to function even in non-containment zones as it is not possible to implement the conditions imposed on them to conduct their business. Highlighting that the civic bodies and police authorities are already overburdened with COVID-19 related duties, the MVA government opined that it was not realistic to expect them to regulate street vendors and hawkers. 

Read: COVID-19: India Conducting 14,640 Tests Per Million, 2 Crore Samples Tested So Far

Read: Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's Tally At 17,65,560 With Over 2 Crore Samples Tested

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally surges to 4.41 lakh

On August 2, Maharashtra recorded 9509 novel coronavirus cases, propelling the state's COVID-19 tally to 4,41,228. At present, there are 1,48,537 active cases in the state. With 9926 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 2,76,809.

260 deaths- 49 from Mumbai, 36 from Pune, 16 from Thane, 15 each from Pimpri-Chinchwad and Vasai-Virar, 12 each from Kalyan-Dombivali and Solapur, 11 from Latur, 8 each from Nashik and Navi Mumbai, 7 from Ahmednagar and Mira-Bhayandar, 6 each from Sangli and Satara, 5 each from Akola, Aurangabad and Raigad, 4 each from Palghar and Dhule, three each from Washim, Amravati, Kolhapur and Bhiwandi, two each from Ulhasnagar, Jalgaon, Jalna, Hingoli Osmanabad and Nagpur and one each from Chandrapur, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Nanded and Parbhani were reported on August 2.

Until now, a total of 15,576 persons have died owing to COVID-19. So far, 22,55,701 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. While 9,25,269 persons are under home quarantine, 37,944 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate, and fatality rate in Maharashtra stands at 19.56%, 62.74%, and 3.53% respectively. 

Read: Maharashtra Needs Permanent Infectious Diseases Hosp: CM Uddhav Thackeray