Time No Bar: BMC Orders Strict Action Against Illegal Hawkers At Night And Weekend

Days after the Bombay High Court (HC) came down heavily on the BMC over inaction in the hawkers menace, municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani directed civic officials to coordinate with the Mumbai police and act against illegal vendors even at night and on weekends in all the 24 administrative wards. The drive will also include removing abandoned vehicles on roadsides and encroachments on the footpaths. 

The HC had last year taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the issue of illegal hawkers in the city. On Monday, the court slammed the civic body for failing to keep unauthorised hawkers and vendors in check and suggested preparing a database of repeated offenders.

Accordingly, the BMC along with Mumbai police conducted a joint meeting at the BMC headquarters on Thursday to plan anti-encroachment drives.

The meeting was attended by additional municipal commissioners Abhijeet Bangar, Dr Ashwini Joshi, Dr Amit Saini, and Dr Sudhakar Shinde, besides Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) Satyanarayan Chaudhary, and Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic) Anil Kumbhare. 

Gagrani also said that the BMC has received several complaints of debris dumping in the mangrove areas and a joint flying squad of police and civic officials will be formed to take action against such activities.