Can vendors on Hill Road be managed better?

Encroachments removed last week were back on Sunday. PIC/SHADAB KHAN

It is now you see them, and now you don't when it comes to Hill Road and its stalls on Bandra West. The shoppers street has been the focus for years now, with sporadic clean-up drives clearing encroachment and then a boomerang-like re-appearance of stalls, in a few days.

Now, post yet another clean up drive, stalls encroaching the Hill Road footpath have come up again, days after demolition. Action against encroachment came after the chairman of the ALM 74 committee wrote to the civic chief, requesting action against the hawkers and vendors along Hill Road, who had started setting up stalls in some of the societies' premises, our report said.

Hill Road needs special attention. We must admit it is a favourite street shopping destination but may be, this can be regulated by having licensed vendors relegated to certain zones in the area. This means bylanes that see vehicle use remain free and safe for pedestrians. Stalls can be shifted to some well-thought-out, clearly marked plot. These have to be monitored, and there should be action if these spaces are ‘sublet' to others, which is a common practice. This will mean that the footpaths stay clear, buyers congregate at a certain space and shop front window views are not obscured by vendors. Housing societies are at times forced to battle vendors who store their goods inside passages or at the doorstep, impacting access and using their space.

Even traffic at Hill Road needs to be monitored, especially, cabbies and rickshaws at peak times, some of which do not ply by meter. Hill Road needs a holistic look and correction.