Hawker-free spots a challenge for BMC

While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's eviction drives against hawkers over the past fortnight have made areas where the problem is most acute hawker-free, past experiences suggest that it will be a stiff challenge for the civic body to ensure that hawkers do not return to these areas.

From Chembur in the eastern suburbs to Malad in the western suburbs, there is a history of hawkers returning to areas from where they have been driven out, and carrying on with their business after a few days. While the BMC has been focusing on clearing out hawkers from around railway stations following the stampede at Elphinstone Road station, in which 23 persons died, special attention is required to ensure that these areas stay hawker-free, owing to the lure of higher earnings for hawkers here.

Another reason is that the BMC's vigil drops in these areas, as civic officials claim they do not have enough strength to maintain a constant watch. 

The BMC's Removal of Encroachments (RE) department has now sought additional manpower from the erstwhile Octroi department for this purpose.

According to Shashank Rao, president of the Mumbai Hawkers' Union (MHU), around 25 per cent of hawkers in the city carry out their business near railway stations. As per data available with the Removal of Encroachments (RE) department of the BMC, in the last one month, the civic body has removed around 21,000 hawkers across the city, and a majority of them were removed from areas within 150 metres of railway stations.

Yusuf Mehrauli Road near Masjid railway station, under the B-ward of the BMC, is one of the areas where the hawker menace has been acutely felt. Despite the civic body's crackdowns once a week, hawkers used to return to the area. The problem persisted despite more than 200 drives having been carried on by civic staff, the assistant municipal commissioner of the ward said.

Udaykumar Shiroorkar, assistant commissioner of B-ward said that the civic staff had to resort to crushing the belongings of hawkers to prevent them from returning. "Yusuf Mehrauli Road, Bhandari street, Narayan Das Street and Nakhuda Muhala are some of the areas where hawkers come back again," said Shiroorkar. He added that repeated action and giving a designated place to them can be a solution.

The recurring problem of hawkers is not limited to one or two areas. It is spread across all wards, and some of the worst-affected areas are Dadar West, Kurla, Colaba, Malad West and Santa Cruz West. As per data from the RE department, in the last one month, maximum of 2,573 hawkers were removed from Dadar in G-North ward, followed by 1,469 in the CST and Colaba areas under A-ward, and 1,009 hawkers were removed in Santacruz under H-west ward.

A hawker from Malad West, Ram Prasad Singh said, "Since there is no clarity on where we can legally carry on with our business, we have no option but to return to places from where we are driven out."

Members of the Jai Hind Hawkers' Union, who did not wish to be named, said that as areas around railway stations, foot-over-bridges, skywalks and subways are the most lucrative, hawkers return to these areas a few days after eviction drives, when the attention of civic staff is focused on other areas.

"After removal, it is necessary to keep watch on hawkers to prevent them from returning, and this can be done with more staff," said an official from the RE department.

Nidhi Chawdhari, deputy municipal commissioner (RE) said that the BMC would not allow hawkers within 150 metres of railway station. "The civic body will not tolerate hawkers within 150 metres of railway stations," said Chawdhari.