Mumbai Corporators Question BMC Over Footpath Hawker Crackdown

Corporators cutting across party lines in Mumbai have voiced serious concerns over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) ongoing enforcement drive against hawkers encroaching on footpaths. The elected representatives alleged that the civic body's crackdown is arbitrary and marred by poor execution at the ward level.

While corporators broadly backed the municipal corporation's 'Pedestrian First' initiative, they strongly questioned the manner in which ward-level officials were conducting enforcement. A major point of contention was the action being taken against hawkers who have already been issued official QR-coded identity cards by the BMC.

BJP corporator Sheetal Gambir stated that hawkers found occupying excessive space on footpaths should simply be instructed to reduce their encroachment rather than being subjected to repeated penalties. She highlighted the financial distress caused by the current approach, stating that affected vendors are left with no money and have been returning to corporators to ask for financial help to pay the civic fines.

UBT Shiv Sena corporator Deepmala Bhade also criticised the municipal corporation's actions, questioning the logic of penalising vendors who had been vetted. Bhade pointed out that the QR-coded ID cards were distributed to hawkers in the presence of corporators, questioning the purpose of handing out the identification cards if the BMC was going to take punitive action against those very same hawkers.