The call for the morcha was given by the Shiv Sena's hawkers' association led by Arvind More. After a meeting at the KDMC gate, a delegation of the hawkers met municipal commissioner G T Bandri and voiced their demands.

The hawkers want to be allowed to operate in the congested nodal station road area in Kalyan west, and they want the KDMC to stop confiscating their wares and handcarts and abandon the plan to shift them to an alternative location.

On Monday last, hawkers indulged in stone-throwing after the KDMC destroyed their confiscated handcarts.

There are over 2,000 hawkers in Kalyan who generate nearly seven tonnes of garbage daily, besides creating snags by occupying a better part of the roads. The KDMC collects Rs 10per hawker as garbage disposal fee.

Former deputy mayor and standing committee member Uday Samel alleged that most hawkers only pay Rs 5 and get away with it by their non-insistence on a receipt. Hawkers who spoke to this reporter said this was true. ``But why is Samel not speaking of the hafta we pay to cops and the local corporator, who get Rs 25 daily per hawker?'' asked a hawker who sells plastic clips at Shivaji Chowk bang outside the KDMC headquarters. ``Otherwise how do you think I'm being allowed to operate here?'' he demanded to know.

``Even if we collect hefty fines, the hawkers continue to be around if they get their carts back,'' civic commissioner G T Bandri had said in the last standing committee meeting. Interestingly, along with standing committee chairperson Bal Hardas, who is also the Sena's chief whip in KDMC, all members had agreed that the presence of hawkers was creating a problem for traffic and pedestrians.

While the Congress-backed Ramesh Hanumante union feels shiftingthe hawkers would rob them of their business, the Sena-backed Arvind More union feels the Rs 32,000 being demanded for galas in the complex ``is too much for hawkers to pay.''

Besides an inter-union rivalry, More has another problem. His bete noire within the Sena, Hardas, has supported the move. ``When the party has committed itself to decongesting hawker-infested areas around stations everywhere, I don't see why there should be opposition to the wishes of Balasaheb in Kalyan,'' he maintained.

There is speculation among residents that the differences between Hardas and More may have something to do with the selection of the city Sena pramukh next month. Along with others, both More and Hardas are also in the fray. When asked to comment on this, More was livid. ``We don't care what the whip says,'' he said, adding, ``The domain of his command ends with the corporators.'' Interestingly, his wife Asmita is a Sena corporator too.

While corporators slug it out, residents of Kalyan are watching thetug-of-war closely. ``For the first time in many years, a civic commissioner is talking tough,'' said Prasad Srinivasan, a resident, ``and look how the elected representatives are creating problems for him.''