Illegal car-washing shops swamp footpaths
The Bombay high court on November 14 said if the encroachments and illegal car-washing shops on Senapati Bapat Marg were not removed within 30 days, the civic officer concerned would be hold accountable
The Bombay high court on November 14 said if the encroachments and illegal car-washing shops on Senapati Bapat Marg were not removed within 30 days, the civic officer concerned would be hold accountable. The petition was filed by a group of citizens from Mahim.
HT on Monday visited some locations across the city in order to get a better understanding of how these unauthorised vehicle-washing businesses operate. It found that these shops, some of whom are run with merely water containers, actually eat into the public spaces like footpaths and roads, thus restricting pedestrians’ movement.
The court had also asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take action against such establishments. However, the civic officers HT spoke to expressed their helplessness.
“Whenever we reach there, those people empty their drums and throw them over the wall, which is a railway property. They manage to get away as we do not have jurisdiction over the railway land. We are not even sure where they are getting the water from, but I guess the private tankers help them,“ an official from G north ward said. They are back in business the very next day, he added.
Vasant Bhanushali, a resident of Mulund, said there are some 7-8 such ‘garages’ in his area where bikes are also washed. “They park their bikes on the footpath to operate their business. My daughter instead takes the busy LBS road to reach her school because the footpath is fully encroached. It is even risky to click pictures because they work in groups.”
A senior BMC official said anyone who wants to open a shop to wash car or any other vehicles needs to apply and take permissions from the building proposal department.
“If someone is found stealing water for running this business, ward officers can file a police complaint. If they are blocking footpaths and roads, the nuisance detector will levy a fine of ₹500 on them and the ward officer should confiscate their equipment,” the official said, while appealing to the people to either tweet to the ward or file a complaint on the BMC portal.
@Mumbaimatterz, a popular page on Twitter, has in the last two years shared videos and photos, showing how even police vehicles are washed in those locations.