BMC removes illegal pan-beedi stall an hour before CM’s visit

MUMBAI: In August 2021, when a small paan-beedi stall began to be set up outside his building in Kandivali East, blocking complete access to the footpath, Nishant Mody would not have imagined that the chief minister would inadvertently play a part in its removal two years later. Eventually, that was what happened—the BMC, after two years of paying scant attention to Mody’s complaints, did away with the stall an hour before Shinde turned up.

The CM’s visit on Saturday, along with BMC commissioner Iqbal Chahal, was part of the civic body’s ‘Deep Cleaning’ drive which was kicked off last week from Dharavi. Under this, one ward in each of the seven zones is selected for cleaning every Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm, and officials from every department of the zone supervise the deep-cleaning of a selected ward, including road-cleaning, pesticide-fogging and toilet-cleaning.

Mody on Friday noticed that the area around his house was being spruced up and hawkers being removed. “But the stall against which I have been complaining remained there,” he said. It was only on Saturday morning that the illegal stall was removed by the BMC.

The Kandivali resident clarified that he had no issues with people earning a living. “But it cannot happen by blocking a footpath,” he said. “Since 2021, I have been posting about this on Twitter and tagging the BMC, but the action taken was just an eyewash. The stall was removed only once and promptly came back in a few days. The rest of the times, the BMC just confiscated some material and closed the complaint.”

Lalit Talekar, assistant commissioner, R South ward, said that around 100 to 150 hawkers were removed in the two-day drive. “There are some stores and stalls that belong to cobblers and handicapped persons, which are registered ones,” he said. “We will check eligibility and continue to take action. Deep-cleaning activity also includes acting against hawkers to ensure that the area stays clean.”

Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder of the Mumbai North Central District Forum, said that the “selective method” of attending to complaints clearly showed bias and a lack of ability in BMC officials. “If resolving citizen complaints requires a visit from the chief minister, I appeal to our CM to plan tours throughout Mumbai to guarantee the effective resolution of citizen issues,” he said.

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Cleaning up Mumbai

On Saturday, Shinde visited Juhu Beach, Andheri, Kandivali East, Vile Parle East and Ghatkopar. He met schoolchildren across wards, visited the ISKCON temple at Juhu and drove a beach-cleaning tractor at Juhu Beach along with Chahal. He also visited the under-construction Gokhale Bridge site and took stock of the work.

The CM later addressed a sanitation awareness rally organised at Thakur Sankul Society, Kandivali East, and visited Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar in Ghatkopar. “The campaign has laser-focused attention on one area at a time while utilising a workforce of at least 2,000, including sanitation workers, belonging to four to five wards,” he said, adding that recycled water was being used for the cleaning. “Roads, sewers, drainage segments and public toilets are getting cleaned regularly. Slum clusters have been specifically included in the target focus areas of the campaign as part of the Slum Improvement Scheme.”