Opera house hawkers want to resume biz

Almost a year after being evicted from their stalls near Opera House following the 13/7 triple blasts in Mumbai, a hawkers’ association has moved the Bombay high court asking that they be allowed to resume their business there.

Almost a year after being evicted from their stalls near Opera House following the 13/7 triple blasts in Mumbai, a hawkers’ association has moved the Bombay high court asking that they be allowed to resume their business there.

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The Pancharatna Hawkers/Vendors Welfare Association, comprising 75 members owning stalls near Opera House, have stated in their petition that they had been evicted from the area soon after the blast.

The association says that they have been at loggerheads with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and police over hawking in the area. The petition states that in 2000, the HC had directed BMC to implement a scheme to regulate the hawking zones in the city. The BMC had then cancelled Opera House as a hawking zone which was challenged in the Supreme Court by hawkers, following which, in 2003, the SC had ordered for a status quo.

“After the 13/7 blasts, the police illegally stopped hawkers from putting up their stalls at Opera House,” the petition claims. It further alleges that when the hawkers went to set up their stalls, they were pushed and lathi-charged by the police.