Mumbai: How Bandra’s Hill Road became hawker-free

After several false starts, residents, and police come together to keep vendors off road since January

Bandra’s Hill Road has been entirely freed of hawkers, a rare sight in Mumbai. Residents had been fighting the menace for a long time and their victory hadn’t come easy. They hope that the road stays vendor-free.

Hill Road and another stretch in Bandra, Linking Road, are popular street shopping destinations, but the presence of hawkers and throngs of customers at these sports translate to traffic chaos, creating a nightmare for residents. Hill Road residents faced difficulties walking or driving and the entrances of their buildings were blocked by vendors.

 
Despite raising the issue with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), police and local politicians and arguing with hawkers, the situation didn’t change for the better until recently. mid-day has consistently championed the cause of residents.

“Since January, Hill Road has been hawker-free. We had been opposing hawkers for a long time and registered several complaints with the BMC and police. This time, the police took a strong stance and a miracle happened. It was hard to believe,” said Rohinton Polishwala, a resident who, along with his neighbour Gurmeet Singh Anand, has raised the issue for several years.

Hill Road wears an uncharacteristically empty look in the absence of unlicensed hawkers on Monday. Pic/Nimesh Dave

Though there were several attempts to clear the road earlier, it has never been free of hawkers for so many weeks. In August 2022, the BMC and members of the advanced locality management and politicians apparently resolved the issue, but vendors kept returning to the spot on the weekends. After residents raised another set of complaints, the BMC started sending an anti-encroachment van to the area every day. 

This, too, did not prove foolproof as the hawkers would gather after the vehicle left, around 7 pm daily.  However, the police have been taking action constantly now. “Thanks to constant surveillance, we succeeded in making the road hawker-free. Since the past four months, only a few vendors who have BMC licences have been seen on the stretch,” said Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Marathe of Bandra police station.

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