Sporadic action won’t stop illegal hawkers

Bhushan Gagrani. Pic/Satej Shinde

Following civic chief Bhushan Gagrani's orders, the BMC recently started acting against illegal hawkers. Two licence inspectors, who will operate in two shifts, are going to target crowded areas. A civic official told this paper that licence inspectors will continuously monitor the situation in 19 hawker-prone areas of the city. A team of civic officials and police will also be present at these spots. The BMC claimed that action has been taken against illegal food stalls.

The civic authority has seized 713 handcarts and 1,037 LPG cylinders used for cooking on the roads.

Learning from experience, the BMC has decided to involve the police as hawkers tend to return to their spots and resume operations after being driven out. Action is being conducted by ward officers. The civic authorities also claim that continuous monitoring will ensure that hawkers do not return. We welcome the action, as footpaths have to be free. We need a safe walking space, in this season even more so, where the state of the roads is challenging and vehicles zip past on slick stretches. The key here though is stopping what this edit space has often called, ‘the boomerang effect'.

This simply means clearing hawkers and other encroachments but seeing that they return in a while. The entire exercise has become one of futility and in fact, arouses cynicism and a here-we-go-again response from citizens.

We also must witness full police protection for those, citizens especially complaining against illegal hawking and trying to evict encroachers, through proper means by complaining officially.

The overtaking of public spaces like footpaths has now become a problem of huge proportions and seems quite impossible to stave off or tackle. If ward-level action is needed, so be it, but it is important that the cleared stretch stays that way.