The famous Fashion Street, for which youngsters seeking cheap, fashionable clothing make a beeline for, was at the receiving end of BMC’s drive against hawkers.
BMC demolishes shop extensions that were encroaching upon the footpath
The famous Fashion Street, for which youngsters seeking cheap, fashionable clothing make a beeline for, was at the receiving end of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s drive against hawkers. The BMC undertook on Tuesday the drive to pull down all the extended shops along the stretch on MG Road.
There are around 400 licensed hawkers who had extended the roof and the sides by poles to provide shade in the monsoon and display clothes. They were, however, supposed to work in 1.5 ft by 1 ft stalls. Some even have larger stalls, but the area cannot encroach upon space meant for pedestrians.
“These people had encroached upon the footpath and there was no place to walk. Their encroachments had eaten up 10 ft of footpath space. We undertook the drive jointly with the police,” said deputy municipal commissioner (special), Milind Shambharkar.
Around 15 trucks, 70 BMC labourers, and 110 policemen from Azad Maidan police station were involved in the one-hour drive that went off peacefully.
Even as the BMC was pulling down the tarpaulin sheets and poles and putting them in the trucks, the shopowners tried to escape through the Cross Maidan along with their wares. “We will deposit all this in our Borivili godown and if they want to collect it, they will have to pay a fine,” said Shambharkar.
The action was taken under section 314 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888. The goods seized can be collected only after a payment of fine amount of Rs1,000 and Rs300 for each 10 kg of the goods. If the goods are not collected after 40 days, they are auctioned off.
“If they extend the shops again, we will continue to take action,” said Shambharkar.
Action was taken at Fashion Street was in March 2007. Hawkers, however, complained that they were not given notice this time. “They normally give some relaxation during the monsoon to have an extension so that it does not affect us. This time they did not even inform us,” said one hawker.
One of the hawkers said, “There are so many illegal encroachments in Bhendi Bazaar and Manish Market, why do they not do anything there?” Shambharkar said similar action would be taken at
various places in the city.
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