BMC wants additional manpower to tackle hawker menace in SoBo

Mumbai: In a bid to tackle the hawker menace in south Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to hire manpower from external agencies like NGO, and manpower supplying firms to remove illegal hawker encroachment from various public spaces.

BMC’s B-ward office, which covers the congested localities like Sandhurst Road, Dongri and Bhindi Bazar had floated a public notice earlier this week, seeking appointment of additional manpower for removing the encroachment.

Ashish Sharma, additional municipal commissioner (City) after taking charge said that he will take an aggressive approach to tackle the hawker menace in Mumbai. Last month, Sharma had asked all the ward officials to carry out a survey at their respective wards to identify encroached footpaths and public spaces.

The B ward is infamous for its hawker encroachments with residents and civic activists who have spoken against this issue several times in the past and continue to do so. In the public notice that has been floated, the BMC’s ward office has said that it will be employing eight volunteers who will be paid ₹680 per day and the contract period will last for five months. The BMC has also made it clear in the proposal that blacklisted firms will be debarred from getting the contract. The civic body also mentioned that if the volunteers are not seen in the designated area allotted to them, then a ₹200 fine will be imposed on the NGO/supplier agency.

Dhanaji Herlekar, an assistant municipal commissioner, who is also the ward officer, confirmed this development.

“The primary objective of appointing these workers is to increase our manpower. Removing illegal hawkers requires increasing manpower, while BMC has the logistics, we require additional manpower. These volunteers will work closely with the civic body in marking the illegal hawkers and help us in removing them from the public spaces,” said a senior official from this ward.

Civic officials said that at present eight volunteers will be deployed in two different shifts of four volunteers per shift. The official also said they are currently going with only eight volunteers since the B-ward is a small area.

“We are taking an aggressive stance against illegal hawkers and encroachments so that all the available public spaces could be decluttered to bring respite to pedestrians. We have earmarked a few spaces from which our drive will start,” said the official.

Ramakant Jadhav, a city-based activist who has written several complaints to the civic administration seeking action against illegal hawkers said, “The BMC should have a regulated approach towards fining illegal hawkers. There have been several attempts like this in the past that got derailed with time due to inconsistent approach.”