Horsing around: BMC action difficult

After a six-year-old girl named Janhvi Sharma died after falling off from a horse during a joyride at Kala Ghoda near Cooperage garden on Sunday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to tighten its grip against illegal horse owners.

However, a senior civic officer stated they had initiated action against horse owners much earlier but due to stringent procedures of BMC it is difficult.

According to Bombay High Court orders of 2015, no new licences have been renewed of horse carriages popularly known as ‘Victoria ride’, in Mumbai.

Kiran Dighavkar the Assistant Municipal Commissioner of BMC South Mumbai (Award) where the mishap took place stated, “All horse carriages in my ward are illegal. Now, we have called a meeting with police officials to decide further course of action as horses need to be confiscated. Therefore, how they should be taken and where they should be kept is a task.”

Another AMC from the adjoining ward Udaykumar Shiroorkar of Dongri (B ward) remarked, “In my ward also the problem of horse carriages is more but as the procedural action is complex, the horse owners even after repeated action continue their activity.”

He further stated that unlike other activities, for initiating action against horse carriages special cattle vehicle has to hired while confiscating the animals. Also, due care is to be taken so that no animal lovers raise questions. Therefore, undue advantage is being taken by horse owners. The Mumbai police has filed a case of culpable homicide—section 304 of the Indian Penal Code Act against the horse rider Soham Jaiswal for the death of the six-year-old girl and arrested him for conducting an illegal business activity.