Ill-equipped and understaffed MBMC plans CCTVs to check hawker menace
Close on the heels of the gory incident in which a hawker chopped off two fingers of an on-duty civic official in Thane, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) is planning to install a network of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at strategic locations in the twin-city. Despite an alarming rise in the number of unauthorised hawkers and illegal stalls that have sprung up in almost every nook and corner, the MBMC’s anti-encroachment department remains ill-equipped and understaffed to tackle the menace.
“Earlier, we hired 12 vehicles, including six jeeps, but now we are left with only six tempos to load and ferry confiscated goods to the lone yard located below the flyover bridge in Bhayandar. Moreover, all ward offices are understaffed to conduct
hawker eviction drives on a continuous basis,” said a senior MBMC officer.
Addressing municipal corporators in the online general body meeting, civic chief Dilip Dhole revealed plans to install a network of CCTV cameras that will be linked to the civic control room. Besides, zones will be demarcated to ensure that hawkerfree areas are not occupied. After scripting history for missing multiple deadlines in completing the survey of hawkers operating here, the MBMC had recently stoked controversy over massive anomalies and bogus entries in the data compiled by a private agency.
Notably, after the once-in-ablue moon action by the MBMC, hawkers returned almost immediately after anti-encroachment vehicles left the spot. 66 “No Hawking” and 26 “Hawking Zones” had been identified by the civic body a few years ago.