According to Mumbai police commissioner, officers will accompany civic leaders in their battle against hawkers.

Mumbai’s police commissioner Rakesh Maria has made the decision to intervene after receiving numerous complaints of hawkers mistreating residents, particularly women. Maria promised in a letter to municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte that the BMC will receive the highest level of police protection in order to take action against unlawful hawkers. Our men are currently engaged in post-election bandobast. We will send police teams to assist civic officials when they proceed to take action against unlicensed hawkers everywhere in the city once the findings are announced, added Maria. According to BMC sources, a campaign against unlicensed hawkers will first near railway stations and then move to other areas of the city. Several incidents of hawkers attacking city officials during eviction campaigns have recently occurred. During an eviction drive in Ghatkopar on May 9, a group of hawkers attacked Pradeep Deole, a civic lorry license inspector, and a tempo driver. The two were treated at Rajawadi Hospital, while Raju and Ketan Kathewadi, two of the hawkers, were detained by Pant Nagar police. A group of roadside stall owners attacked a TV journalist on April 26 after he questioned one of them for reportedly harassing his wife in a Malad market. Three hawkers were taken into custody by the police, but three more are still at large. We have been pleading with the BMC for a long time to remove the hawkers from Vile Parle, but they keep claiming that they do not receive police protection. The eviction campaigns should now start as a result of Maria adopting this proactive action, according to Rajni Vats of the K-West Residents’ Association. But not everyone was persuaded. Even though Maria has promised to offer security during eviction drives, the neighborhood police will still play hard to get. According to Sanjay Samat of the Naigaon Residents’ Association in Dadar (E), “the BMC-local police-hawkers nexus can not be broken easily.”