On Saturday, a political party took the law into its hands and thrashed hawkers thronging the space outside Thane station. This is not an out-of-the-blue development; following the Elphinstone Road tragedy, railway officials had neatly turned the heat off themselves and on to the hawkers, who have for long been targets of ire across Mumbai and its neighbourhood.

Despite innumerable efforts over the years to evict the city's ubiquitous residents, there has been very little success. They disappear following eviction drives, yet seem to grow in frightening numbers year after year.