Mumbai: Hawker-shopkeeper blow-out in Chembur

Hawkers occupy the pavement on N G Aacharya Marg on Sunday

A bustling lane in Chembur devolved into chaos on Sunday after a group of shopkeepers told illegal hawkers not to cripple their business by blocking the footpath. The shopkeepers said the roadside vendors became aggressive and abusive, forcing them to call the police. Shop owners from across Mumbai said the matter has now reached tipping point and the authorities must find a solution to this menace. Shopkeepers insisted they are not against licensed hawkers.

A group of unauthorised roadside vendors in Chembur turned violent on Sunday when they were asked by members of a shopkeepers' association not to block the shops' view and customers' movement. The drama unfolded on the Narayan Gajanan Acharya Marg, popularly known as N G Acharya Marg, which runs parallel to the railway tracks near the Chembur station in the west.

Also read: Mumbai: Dadar cleanup drive takes heat off hawkers

Cops after the clash in Chembur on Sunday

"There are around 1,000 shops in our association. We, at the association, are getting constant complaints about the [illegal] hawkers. They don't have an association so we can't even have a constructive discussion. They occupy footpaths and roads and their stands reach up to 10 to 12 feet totally blocking our shops' view. On Sunday, when we went to talk to them, some of them pushed us and abused us physically" Kishore Kulkarni, chairman of Chembur Merchants' Association.

Kulkarni said the police registered a non-cognisable offence against the hawkers but they want stringent action against them. On Monday, the road remained hawker-free. "Despite several complaints, the BMC hasn't taken any action. As per the rule, there shouldn't be any hawkers from 150 metres from the railway station. But in our area, not only footpaths are swallowed by the hawkers but they are eating up the air space also," said another shopkeeper from Acharya Marg.

"We will not accept any such abuse against shopkeepers and will take up the issue with the city police commissioner. No one can take the law into their hands. Now the corporation should ensure that there are no illegal hawkers and they should not create nuisance to anyone," said Viren Shah, president of the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA). The association sent letters to the civic and police chiefs citing the assault on a member. "The issue will be resolved jointly with the police," said Vishwas Mote, assistant municipal commissioner of M-west ward that covers Chembur.

‘Reached saturation point'

Enraged shop owners, looking beyond Chembur, referring to similar problems across Mumbai, said that the time to tiptoe around this and phrases like boiling points are understatements. Sunil Shah, president of Dadar Vyaapari Sangh stated upfront, "We have not reached boiling point. We have reached saturation point, that is the uncomfortable but undeniable truth."

Scene on N G Acharya Marg before the confrontation

When Shah was told the confrontations have escalated now, but there have been problems for years, it is time for resolutions rather than harping on the impasse, he shot back, "Why should we, the shopkeepers, find a solution? The solution must come from a system which has ‘created' this problem in the very first place. If those responsible had undergone chemotherapy treatment earlier, this cancer of illegalities and encroachment and because of that, subsequent altercations would not have occurred in the first place. Let me make it very clear, we are not against licensed hawkers. We are against land grabbers and thugs. These are tacitly or else supported by certain politicians and some other authorities. So, it is evident the rot has seeped deep into the system, it has to be pulled out by its roots."

The end

Haresh Hathiramani of the Colaba Residents and Shopkeepers Association, said, "We all now have reached the end of our endurance. Period. We have about 140 licensed hawkers, then, why do we have 450, here? Rules are made to be flouted. In fact, it is so laughable. You will see a board on the roads saying: ‘no hawking'. Just below that board, right below not even further away, you will spot a hawker, that is the level of impunity." Hathiramani did accede that there is a semblance of action on a complaint. "We will see some control and order for four days after a complaint has been filed. On the fifth day, I call it the boomerang effect, it is back to disorder and chaos."

Ward wise

Shopkeepers stated that their business suffered greatly. One owner said, "I know hawkers are doing much better business than the shops, because the stores located usually behind them, have no visibility and little access. Recently, there was a robbery in a store. The surveillance footage was adversely affected because the hawking stand was blocking it. Can you see the dangerous though not immediately apparent effects of this?" Other owners added, "We are seeing these confrontations now getting even edgier, tense and more fraught. There is a simmering sense of injustice that those who pay their taxes, follow rules are paying the ultimate price. What are the ward representatives, voices of the people, who know what exactly is going on, but pretend to be surprised making flying ‘visits' to spots when owner-hawker trouble brews going to do? It is with them, that the answer lies. Do not ask us for solutions."