MNS display wares outside Sitaram Kunte's home

About 50 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers came together on Friday to put up stalls outside municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte's official residence at Pedder Road, to protest against the alleged irregularities carried out by civic officials in the form of distribution process of registering hawkers in the city.

However, by afternoon they were picked up by police officials from Gamdevi police station and later released.

MNS group leader Sandeep Deshpande, said, "We had set up stalls for selling vada pao and undergarments. If the civic body allows hawking everywhere in the city, then why not outside the top civic official's home?"

"The entire form distribution process is filled with corruption and the civic officials are involved in this," said Deshpande.

MNS members had walked out of the standing committee meeting, after reports of discrepancies in the form distribution process surfaced. MNS had also demanded that 80% of the hawkers should be sons of the soil.

A civic official said, "It is an immature act. We are yet to decide what action can be taken against them."

"We have arrested eight local MNS workers for creating a ruckus. They have been booked on charges of unlawful assembly. The MNS workers wanted to send a message to the civic chief that hawkers can erect their stalls anywhere in the city, including near his place," said a senior police inspector Rajaram Prabhu of Gamdevi police station.