To decongest city,civic body cracks whip on hawkers

“Usually in times of attack or disaster,it becomes difficult to manage crowds and it can lead to loss of lives. The drive will continue throughout the year. We will remove hawkers near railways stations and other congested areas in a phase-wise manner,” said V Balamvar,deputy municipal commissioner,removal of encroachments.

“Initially,we are targetting only highly congested areas and lanes,” he added.

The second phase of the drive will include removal of hawkers from Goregaon East and West,which are one of the highly congested areas.

While typically the drive against hawkers gathers momentum during festive season and then slows down,this time around the authorities said removing hawkers will be their priority following a High Court order. “Usually,we do not have enough staff and machinery to continue the drive throughout the year,but now we will ask the police department for regular patrolling of congested areas. The police department and the BMC should work together to end the hawker menace,” said Balamvar.

The civic administration recently cleared hawkers from the 13/7 serial blasts sites of Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House.