Hill Road in Bandra West is a hawkers’ paradise, with the stretch being taken over by street vendors for years now. This paper has reported on a clean-up or two in the past but it has only had a boomerang effect — hawkers evicted and encroachment removed, only to return a few months later.

After a site visit by the assistant commissioner of the H West ward in August, there was a crackdown on illegal stalls. But residents allege that it barely lasted a few days, with vendors rebuilding their makeshift structures on footpaths to resume plying their trade without fear of repercussions.