'Illegal Hawkers Have Taken Over Mumbai Streets, No Space To Walk': HC Pulls Up BMC, Maharashtra Govt

Bench comprising Justices M.S. Sonak and Kamal Khata says problem has reached 'alarming proportions', and the civic body and government cannot take their 'sweet time' to deal with the issue. 

When the BMC conducts an anti-encroachment drive, the hawkers would return in a few minutes.

Unauthorised hawkers have virtually taken over the streets and bylanes in Mumbai, and left almost no space for pedestrians, the Bombay High Court has observed, asking why ordinary citizens do not get the same treatment that "VVIPs" seem to get.

“There is no place for people to walk on the footpaths," the HC said. Pedestrians have to navigate among the unauthorised hawkers and haphazardly parked vehicles in the street, it added.

According to PTI, on June 25, a bench comprising Justices M.S. Sonak and Kamal Khata said the problem had reached “alarming proportions”, and the civic body and government could not take their “sweet time” to deal with this issue. 

Last year, the high court took suo motu cognisance of the issue of illegal and unauthorised hawkers in Mumbai. 

The court issued directions to the Maharastra government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but there has been dismal progress on the same. 

The high court said members of the public are “merely” tolerant or “fed up with complaining any more to the civic authorities” but it doesn’t “reduce the magnitude of the problem or their sufferings”. 

“The public cannot be made to wait endlessly and keep tolerating this intolerable situation," it added, according to PTI.

When the BMC conducts an anti-encroachment drive, the hawkers return in a few minutes, the high court said. However, when VVIPs visit the city, all roads and footpaths are cleared, and potholes are also filled up sometimes, the high court noted. 

The court asked the civic body, police and the government to file affidavits informing the court about the action they have taken against the illegal hawkers.

"Do not the law-abiding citizens with whose money these VIPs function deserve the same treatment? Isn't it their right to insist that laws are obeyed and, if not voluntarily obeyed, enforced by the executive arm?" the HC asked, as reported by PTI.