Shoppers will now have fewer options for street shopping at Colaba causeway from next week, as the BMC has shortlisted only 101 hawkers from among 400, who will be allowed to occupy footpath space there. In a bid to regulate the hawkers of Colaba causeway after a massive fire gutted Metro Mansion last week, the BMC has mapped 101 places with yellow paint on the footpath of Colaba causeway.
This move is expected to clear the footpath of ‘unnecessary crowd’ and provide a clear escape, in case of a similar disaster.
Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of the A ward said, “The hawkers are a menace in the sense that they use up a lot of free space on the footpath. More than three quarters of them are illegal. We are planning to reduce the number of hawkers to free up the walking space and enable easy escape in case another disaster happens.”
However, this move has not gone down well with the hawkers of this area, who believe it is a domino effect of the fire and the BMC is only trying to show it is taking some action. A.P. Prakash, who had a shop outside of Metro House said, “Our shops did not cause any hindrance. In fact, the presence of so many hawkers only meant those many more people were there to help the ones escaping the building.”
However, Mr Dighavkar said, “We will be allowing only those with licenses to do business.”
