MNS corporators from KDMC on hunger strike over hawker menace at Kalyan station

Two MNS corporators are observing a hunger strike to protest against illegal hawkers and drug addicts at Kalyan Station, especially on its skywalk. The corporators of the Raj Thackeray-led party claim that the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC), railway administration and the police haven't paid any heed to the increasingly alarming situation since they derive hafta from the hawkers.

Nitin Nikam and Ulhas Bhoir, the corporators of Kolsewadi and Kadakpada respectively, have been holding the dharna with about 15 supporters on the skywalk since Friday.

Nikam said that between 2014-15, the skywalk has seen three incidents of fire caused by the drug addicts who inhabit it. Fires lit either for cooking or for the preparation of drugs have a direct link to the fires, he claimed. Their claims may not be wholly unfounded as was evident when the two hawkers attacked a female Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable in the Kalyan railway police station.

According to the GRP, constable Pratibha Salunkhe, part of the senior divisional security commissioner Sachin Bhalode's special squad, was patrolling and prosecuting illegal hawkers on Saturday afternoon when two hawkers entered the station and started questioning her about it. "They then abused her for taking action against the hawkers," said Manik Sathe, inspector, Kalyan GRP. The accused managed to flee from the scene but were soon arrested.

The two have been charged under IPC Sections 353, 354, 332, 504 and 506, he added. GRP and RPF officials have denied taking hafta and claim that this hunger strike is nothing but a mere publicity stunt on the part of the MNS.