Hawkers attack BMC officials

Two days after Nashik additional collector Yashwant Sonawane was burnt alive for doing his duty, six local civic engineers were assaulted at Dadar West on Thursday during a drive to demolish illegal constructions and remove encroachments.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) team had targeted unlicensed hawkers, illegal shops and illegal extensions at the Dadar flower market when a group of hawkers assaulted them.

There have been several complaints from pedestrians as the hawkers had encroached on the access to the Dadar station, a senior civic official said.

A junior engineer, and a security officer were hospitalised, while the others were given first aid.

An officer who was a part of the team said: “This was one of those routine drives that we undertake to keep the area clean for people to walk. For us it’s a double-edged sword, if we don’t take actions we will be answerable to our seniors and if we do then we get assaulted by the public.”

“The team managed to take action against 60 shops that had illegally extended their floor area and 20 hawkers who were functioning without any license,” said Devendra Jain, assistant municipal commissioner, G-North ward office.

Meanwhile the demolition drive, ordered by Subodh Kumar who recently took over as BMC commissioner, continued across the city, with illegal roadside stalls at Ghatkopar being demolished.