MUMBAI, September 17: Shopkeepers in Dadar have called off their token bandh on Friday following an assurance by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi of immediate action against illegal hawkers.The police and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation staff swung into action and cleared the hawkers on Wednesday. President of the Dadar Merchants' Association Kantilal Nisar said that the meeting with the chief minister proved very fruitful and Joshi assured him that the construction of the hawkers plaza would be completed in less than a year and subsequently all the hawkers will be shifted to the plaza making Dadar totally free of hawkers.
Nisar informed that till then no hawker will be permitted to use the carriageway nor use hangings to sell their wares. Even the height of the stands will be restricted to four feet and the area occupied by each hawker will be one metre by one metre. He added that Joshi's orders were also passed to the concerned BMC officers.
Nisar said that the hawkers had decided to call off thebandh in good faith. But cautioned that if the police and the municipal staff show any laxity in implementation of the chief minister's orders, the association would resort to either bandh or rasta-roko.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.