Mumbai: Illegal hawkers attack Bandra resident for complaining against them

Complainant Gurmeet Singh Anand (in yellow) with the illegal hawkers on Hill Road. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

It was an angry day at Bandra's Hill Road, when illegal hawkers attacked a resident who had complained to the BMC against them. On Saturday, when the BMC started taking action, the hawkers got agitated.

Go Nidhi Co-operative Housing Society LTD and Hilla Apartment of Pali Hill had on February 11 written a letter of complaint to the BMC for the removal of the hawkers in BMC's H West Ward. In the letter, they wrote that they would like to bring to light the nuisance caused by illegal hawking on Hill Road, specifically between Sarkar Plaza Building and Pantaloons.

The complainant also pointed out that Hill Road is a no-hawking zone, but illegal hawkers persist, making it difficult for residents and their vehicles to move around. There are also hawkers obstructing pedestrians outside Homeland Apartment, and the complainants requested that they be transferred to an alternate location.

After getting these complaints, the BMC reached Hill Road on Saturday to remove the illegal hawkers and the complainant Gurmeet Singh Anand, 34, also reached the spot.

As soon as Anand arrived, 10 to 12 hawkers surrounded him and got into a scuffle with him. Anand told mid-day that there is no place to walk on the pavement due to the illegal hawkers. He also said, "Around 12 of them attacked me. Had I stuck around, I could have been in danger." When mid-day photographer Pradeep Dhivar went around to take pictures, hawkers again attacked other complainants, too. Anand made a complaint at Bandra Police Station, and the cops have registered an NC. Both parties were at the police station trying to resolve the matter at the time of going to press.