E-Paper
My City My Voice: Hawkers congest Malwadi chowk in Pune
Negligence from authorities, non-functional traffic signal add to chaos
The area near the old and new police stations on Warje Malwadi road have been witnessing heavy traffic congestion due to the road encroachment by hawkers. Encroachment on the main road has been growing over the recent years without any intervention by the traffic police or civic authorities.
“There is severe traffic jam on this road no matter what time it is,” wrote Sushant Danekar, a reader, in an email. The chaos is caused by illegal hawkers encroaching the roads and crowds at two liquor shops,” he noted.
An HT reporter who visited the spot found illegal hawkers selling fruits, vegetables, clothes and other items, on the road, causing chaos with traffic bottlenecks. As a result, people park their vehicles on the road to make purchases from hawkers.
Failure of the police and civic authorities to take action against the hawkers and the traffic signal at Malwadi chowk that has been non functional for the last few months has added to the chaos, said residents.
“Despite restrictions, hawkers are seen doing business on the road. First, there were few vendors, but now there are a lot more between Warje to Malwadi chowk,” said Swapnil Pathak, a resident of Malwadi.
Monika Pandit, a housewife and resident of Dangat Patilnagar, said, “During the evening hours, there is hardly any space in the area to commute. The chances of being hit by a vehicle have increased with growing traffic and decreasing space on the roads.”
However, we do not have an alternate road to commute, said Pandit.
Speaking on similar lines, the owner of Mamata Sweets at Malwadi chowk, said, “Although PMC has been conducting anti-encroachment drives, its effect is short-lived. The encroachers are back within a couple of days and because of the encroachment, this point is becoming an accident-prone spot.”
Ganesh Sonule,ward officer of Warje-Malwadi, said, “We have conducted regular raids to curb encroachment on the road. We will rehabilitate the authorised hawkers and evict the illegal ones. The problem can also be resolved if people stop buying items from illegal hawkers.”
Salim Chaus, assistant police inspector, traffic branch, at Malwadi, said, “We have very limited staff to control the important highway junctions, like Chandni chowk, Warje bridge, Vandevi Mandir and Navale bridge. Hence, it is practically impossible to deploy a full-time policeman at Malwadi chowk. As per requirement, we send a traffic constable to handle the situation. We have also demanded five traffic signals in our area. As far as the hawkers are concerned, it is the responsibility of the civic body to control the problem.”
