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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, JULY 25: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched its anti-encroachment drive on Mumbai’s famous Fashion Street, near the Metro Cinema. The hawkers, who had illegally extended their stalls encroaching on the pavements space all the way to the edge of the road, are now having a tough time, since BMC’s first strike last week.
The civic staff had pulled down the extensions to the stalls on Wednesday. “Seven truck-loads of goods were confiscated from the entire one kilometre long stretch of Fashion Street, beginning from the Parsi Bawdi to the Goan Sports Club,” said the `A’ ward officer, Rajendra Kumar Vale. Some hawkers had erected permanent, concretised structures on the pavement, which had to be razed using a heavy-duty JCB machine.
“In the past we had received several complaints from the local residents as well as motorists and pedestrians about the difficulty of walking through the Fashion Street (officially known as Mahatma Gandhi Road). The encroachments had grown to suchan extent that it was actually causing minor traffic problems too during the peak hours,” said Vale.
Along with the confiscated goods of 200 licensed hawkers, the BMC staff also pulled down the stalls of 50 unlicensed hawkers who had recently set up business on the street. All their wares have been taken to the BMC warehouse at Mulund.
The intensive drive was carried out with the help of 80 police personnel, including the senior police inspector of Azad Maidan police station.
Last year, the BMC had launched two major anti-encroachment drives against the hawkers on the Fashion Street. However, the stalls had returned and the extensions had spread fast after April this year when the civic vigilance squad could not get police protection.
“From now on we will practically have daily checks at Fashion Street as we have been promised full co-operation from the traffic and local police,” stated the ward officer.
