200 hawkers will be evicted, legislator promises Bandra

About 200 hawkers on Kadeshwari Mandir Marg and John Baptist Road near Bandra Reclamation will be evicted, the authorities promised Bandra citizens in a meeting on Friday.

About 200 hawkers on Kadeshwari Mandir Marg and John Baptist Road near Bandra Reclamation will be evicted, the authorities promised Bandra citizens in a meeting on Friday.

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The public meeting was organised by citizen groups in Bandra to deal with the increasing menace of hawkers. It was attended by Bandra legislator Baba Siddique and Deputy Municipal Commissioner, (encroachments) Rajendra Bhonsale.

The meeting was also disrupted by a group of hawkers who threatened violence due the eviction drive.

“We will carry out eviction drive in all these areas,” said Siddique.

The citizens also said that they would have regular meetings with the authorities to make sure that these two areas become hawker free just like the Bandra Station Road and the Hill Road.

“This is a huge problem for all of us living in Bandra. All these hawkers indulge in illegal activities at night and they should be removed,” said Father Warner Dsouza.

Hawkers have become a menace in Bandra with pedestrians finding it difficult to walk on the roads, as the footpaths are occupied by hawkers and peddlers. For a long time, the local citizen groups have been trying to evict them. Friday's meeting was part of their campaign.

In the same meeting, representatives of the hawkers said that theirs stalls were the only source of livelihoods for their families and if evicted, they would become jobless.

Citizens are however of the opinion that the hawkers are protected by politicians.

Due to citizens’ pressure, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation evicted about 1,100 unlicensed hawkers from Bandra Hill Road.

The residents of Bandra (W) constituency and the Advanced Locality Management of the area launched a signature campaign earlier this year, protesting against the increasing number of hawkers on Linking Road.

“We have done everything we could to evict these hawkers .We are just asking for the lawmakers to follow the law,” said Neil Rodriques, a Bandra resident.