a promising development

It's sad that India's Thane Muncipality (just outside Mumbai) wasted more than a million dollars on various schemes to get street hawkers to relocate to indoor malls. But now the municipality is moving towards a much better model, The Times of India reports.

The corporation is now toying with the idea of providing open air markets in plots of land reserved for municipal markets. The proposal does not involve huge expenses ... as no major construction is required in it. There is also a distinct possibility of it succeeding in the long run as the environment of the open air market will he like that of hawking on public places.

That sounds promising.

One potential problem:

The corporation is also considering leasing out the markets to private parties on annual rental basis for fixed period.

Privatization, which could very easily lead to higher rents, could destroy the plan before it starts.