HC’s severe reprimand exposes Maha govt’s failure to regulate hawkers: Shiv Sena(UBT) in ‘Saamana’

Mumbai, April 30 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Thursday accused the Maharashtra government of being indifferent not only towards illegal hawkers but also of other issues facing the common public, and that the High Court has rightly criticised it.

According to the Thackeray camp, it was good that through the issue of unauthorised hawkers, the Bombay High Court “shamed those in power and stripped away the facade of their political will”.

“However, for those whose political will is defined only by power and the money derived from it — and whose desire and strength are only awakened against political opponents — will they feel any shame from this judicial exposure? That remains the question,” the party said.

The Thackeray camp in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, said the Bombay High Court has reprimanded the Maharashtra government for its failure to address the growing menace of unauthorised hawkers, attributing the persistence of the problem to a complete lack of political will. “The court expressed sharp disapproval of the government’s inaction, stating that officials should be ‘ashamed’ of their ignorance regarding their own laws and powers. The observations came during a hearing concerning encroachments by unauthorised hawkers in Mumbai, a problem that the court noted has escalated into a serious grievance for citizens across all major and minor cities in the state,” it said.

The editorial stated that the issue of unauthorised hawkers, their encroachments, the resulting distress to citizens, and the blindness of politicians and the administration is becoming serious not just in Mumbai, but in all large and small cities across the state. Those responsible for removing unauthorised hawkers and allowing pedestrians to breathe freely are staying silent. In reality, laws exist to take action against unauthorised hawkers, and the government has the power to act; however, these powers are not utilised.

According to the editorial, the court highlighted a persistent cycle where authorities, including the state government, municipal corporations, and the police, engage in “passing the buck”. This “corrupt triangle” is identified as the root cause behind the failure to clear footpaths and allow pedestrians “room to breathe”.

Taking aim at the administration, the editorial claimed that occasional superficial actions are taken, but things soon return to the status quo. This is because if legal powers were actually used to remove unauthorised hawkers, it would hurt the “vested interests” of those in power. Their “collusion” would be endangered. Consequently, despite the court’s repeated reprimands, the government maintains a calculated silence on the hawker issue, it remarked.

“The blame-shifting between the government, the Municipal Corporation, and the police continues. At the root of the unauthorized hawker problem lies this corrupt triangle. Despite the High Court’s dressing-down, the government callously informed the court that it would take seven months to establish a ‘Vending Committee’ for authorised hawkers and another month for implementation,” sharply commented the editorial.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena questioned whether the administration, focused primarily on power, money, and targeting political opponents, would feel any genuine “shame” following such a public rebuke. It claimed that the court’s remarks suggest that the government’s “apathy” extends beyond the issue of hawkers to various other public grievances, reflecting a broader crisis of governance in the state.

–IANS

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