BMC, police act 34 times to get rid of 3 vada pav stalls, but they are still standing

A south Mumbaibased activist has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court against Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte and others for not taking permanent action against a vada pav vendor in Fort The BMC and the police have however taken action against the vendor 34 times following the activistrsquos complaint The vada pav stall outside Mumbai Universityrsquos Fort campus run by the president of the arearsquos hawkers union PicSayed Sameer Abedi Sanjay Gurav a 36yearold resident of Bora Bazaar Street who had conceived the Shiv Senarun chain Shiv Vada Pav filed the petition copy with MiD DAY last week He has beseeched the court to direct Kunte to initiate action against the BMC officials that have failed in shutting down the vendorrsquos three stalls and to crack down on illegal hawkers and food vendors in the locality The snacks stalls in question are on the footpath outside Mumbai Universityrsquos Fort campus They are run by one Dilip Surodkar president of Mumbai Hawkers Unionrsquos Fort wing and district president of the Nationalist Congress Partyrsquos labour cell 34 and counting In 2011 in a Right To Information reply filed by the BMC Gurav got to know that Surodkar did not have a licence and he has since been complaining against him On the basis of his complaints BMC fined Surodkar 22 times Gurav then brought up the issue during the collectorrsquos and civic commissionerrsquos Lokshahi Din on which public authorities redress citizensrsquo grievances The collector and the commissioner directed the BMC and the Mumbai police respectively to declare the accused hawker as a lsquohabitual offenderrsquo The Azad Maidan police then charged him 12 times under appropriate provisions of the law but the stalls have braved all the warnings and penal actions Sources said the Mumbai University administration has also complained against the stalls that are being operated within 100 metres of the university premises which is a violation of a Supreme Court order On November 28 2011 Gurav lodged a complaint with the Azad Maidan police that he was getting dire threats from the hawker who wanted him to let the matter go The BMCrsquos tardy manner of dealing with the issue finally prompted him to file a writ petition against BMC chief Kunte and Devidas Shirsagar assistant municipal commissioner AMC of A ward Fort The next hearing on the petition is on January 17 ldquoThe BMC and the police are not taking serious action against the vendor as he is a very powerful man He is violating several BMC norms and Supreme Court directions I attended the collectors and municipal commissionerrsquos Lokshahi Din but nothing came of it So I decided to file the petition against BMC officialsrdquo said Gurav BMC Commissioner Sitaram Kunte said ldquoI will look into the matter I will comment after getting the detailsrdquo The other side The owner of the stalls Surodkar said ldquoI am not aware of Guravrsquos petition I am running the vada pav stalls here for the past 40 years I have the licence in my wifersquos name I am doing nothing illegal There are 4000 hawkers in Fort area but Gurav complains against the hawkers who do not give him extortion money There are several petitions pending against him in the high court Also the law regarding stalls within 100 metres of an edicational institute is not in effect as of now The Supreme Court has cancelled that orderrdquou00a0