During the crackdown on illegal hawkers, civic officials discovered that vendors had illicitly tapped into electrical connections. The BMC swiftly responded by taking action against these offenders near key areas such as Dadar railway station, Byculla, Chembur, Borivali, Mulund, and Andheri. The unauthorized electrical connections were dismantled, and the materials such as handcarts and gas cylinders used for cooking food on the road were confiscated.
"We found at several locations that the hawkers have unlawfully tapped into nearby electrical poles, potentially using large amounts of power for operations," said a civic official. The illegal connections were removed in a joint action by BMC, BEST and Adani Energy Limited.
The electricity for the consumers in city areas is provided by BEST, while Adani Energy Limited supplies it in suburban areas. A ward-wise special task force will be appointed by the BMC to carry out action against illegal hawkers and theft of electricity by them. Also, the civic authorities will ask the BEST to initiate action against such offenders and register a police complaint.
Following directives from the Bombay High Court (HC), the BMC has focused on high footfall areas where the number of illegal hawkers has increased in the last few years. "The confiscated materials are dumped in the civic warehouse. The material is auctioned after a few months, while the gas cylinders are given into the possession of the company which it belongs to," said a civic official.
The HC had last year taken suo motu (on its own) cognizance of the issue of illegal and unauthorised hawkers and vendors in the city. Last week, the court slammed the civic body for failing to keep illegal hawkers and vendors in check and suggested that they prepare a database to identify such repeated offenders.
