PCMC starts taking action against illegal hawkers, hoardings, encroachers

Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has started taking action against illegal hoardings, encroachers and hawkers.

Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has started taking action against illegal hoardings, encroachers and hawkers.

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Jameer Lengrekar, deputy municipal commissioner, said, “We were busy with Lok Sabha elections, then festivals and Assembly elections. Now that these are over, we have asked officials to be vigilant and take action against encroachers. We have started taking action in Kalamboli and Panvel.”

Hoardings and illegal encroachments have mushroomed in Kharghar, Taloja Kamothe and Panvel.

Officials have started taking action from Monday and collected ₹37,000 in fines from illegal encroachers at Khanda Colony in Panvel.

“Officials have pulled down 345 illegal banners and posters and the drive will be intensified,” said Lengrekar.

The Panvel civic body does not have any helpline number to complain about the menace. Complaints are given ward officers who forward them to the department for action.

Election and festival banners are seen across the city. Some have not been pulled down for months. Hawkers have returned to most places at Kharghar, Kamothe and Kalamboli.

“Hawkers are seen everywhere. They have erected a temporary structure for doing their business near Khandeshwar railway station and nobody has taken action against them,” said Sreedhar Rao, 45, a Kamothe resident.

“As no strict action is taken against them, they always return after a gap,” said Rao.