The continual illegal encroachments of Bandra

Amna Lakdawala, 23rd November 2022, Mumbai Uncensored:

Once BMC’s anti-encroachment van leaves, Bandra’s area, Hill Road is packed with unlicensed vendors.

The city that is known as the New York of India is a dream in most ways, but it has failed to restrict the illegal encroachments that happen all over the city, especially in the prestigious area of Bandra, Hill Road.

The famous shopping area of Mumbai, Hill road is well-known for selling a variety of products at affordable rates and it is accompanied by beautiful capacious space – only for a certain period of time. Till 7 pm, an anti-encroachment van of the BMC is stationed in the area, and the moment it leaves, chaos enters in form of sellers taking up every space of the road and footpaths with various products. Everyone that has been here has seen them around and even purchased goods from them, but what they don’t know is that it is illegal for them to sell their products.

According to the locals, the promises made by police, politicians and civic bodies mean nothing. There furthermore said that while there were a couple of days of peace in the area around August when BMC had driven the illegal sellers off Hill Road, it predictably lasted only for a short period of time.

On the report of a hill-road resident, “Because the BMC’s placement of its vehicle is right across from our apartments, their response to our complaints and repeated follow-ups is ensuring that there are no hawkers within 50 metres of our buildings. But after that [after they leave], the hawker threat persists. The BMC urged me to look for myself after I brought the problem to their attention.Later, he mentioned that the van leaves between 7 to 7.30 pm and hawkers are usually seen doing their dealings till late evening.”

Furthermore, a well-known activist Anil Galgali also gave his 2 cents on the issue, “Cities like Bangalore established hawkers’ policies in response to the Supreme Court’s directive, but even eight years later, the regulation is still in operation in Mumbai. Given the extensive linkage involved, the political and administrative elites are unwilling to put it into practice. If the proposal is put into practice, the BMC will make millions of dollars and have clean roads. Additionally, they can conserve the labour and equipment needed for action.”

“The BMC has developed innovative solutions to address important problems like potholes, hustlers, waste management, and nullah cleaning. The BMC seeks ways to temporarily cobble matters together despite the fact that these problems are complicated and require comprehensive policies. Even in the hawkers’ instance, the action is merely an eyewash”, added another Hill Road local. “The civic officials were instructed to contact the police, he continued, because they were unable to dispatch a vehicle after 7 o’clock.”

And finally the assistant commissioner of H West Ward, Vinayak Vispute commented in light of this nuisance, “We have begun taking tough measures against hawkers and have sent letters to the private properties that protected them throughout the action. Once they are found guilty of repeated offences, even we won’t give them their things. The neighbourhood is now considerably more walkable as an outcome.”