E-Paper
Residents laud PCB action against illegal hawkers in area
While hawkers squatting on MG road, East street, Sachapir street and Centre street were evacuated, the crackdown will now be extended to Shivaji market, Pul gate, KB Hidayatullah road, Poona College road, Abaji maidan and other cantonment areas
Over two days of a major drive initiated by the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB), several unauthorised hawkers were removed from arterial roads and prime public spaces in the area. While hawkers squatting on MG road, East street, Sachapir street and Centre street were evacuated, the crackdown will now be extended to Shivaji market, Pul gate, KB Hidayatullah road, Poona College road, Abaji maidan and other cantonment areas.
Confirming that the crackdown will be further continued to vacate unauthorised hawkers from important cantonment areas, PCB CEO Subrat Pal said, “We have sought the deployment of policemen for carrying out the anti-encroachment drive. Due to the presence of VIPs in the city, the police security will not be available on an immediate basis but it will be available later. We are taking strict action against commercial hawkers who are blocking traffic and have become a public nuisance.”
Social worker Raj Singh said, “We welcome the action taken against the illegal hawkers who have become a major nuisance for residents and traders. The shopkeepers are paying taxes including water tax, GST and other cess while these hawkers don’t pay any taxes and still occupy prime roads in the cantonment area. We want police action and if need be, cases must be lodged against the violators. The drive must be taken to the next level and all areas of the Pune cantonment must be covered.”
Residents of MG road and the surrounding areas lauded the PCB for its anti-encroachment drive. One Sebastian Rodrigues said, “When the PCB anti-encroachment squad arrives to take action against these hawkers, they find it very easy to run with their goods as they have obtained wheeled carriers to do so. However, they endanger the lives of children, women and senior citizens in the bargain as their wheeled carriers are made of iron and can prove lethal.”
During the tenure of recently-transferred CEO of the PCB, Amit Kumar, the Cantonment Merchants’ Association, an apex body, had highlighted how hawkers pose a serious menace apart from claiming that they, in connivance with anti-encroachment staffers of the board, are cannibalising the legitimate business establishments of traders.
