Mumbai: No smooth sailing for Yacht Club

Watch out time as pedestrians, vehicles battle for space; (Right) Clothes encounters near Yacht Club

The Royal Bombay Yacht Club (RBYC) near the Taj Mahal Palace hotel at Colaba, has red-flagged the increasing number of hawkers in its vicinity, urging authorities to take action and ensure clean-ups. The magnificent heritage edifice, located diagonally opposite the Gateway of India, has hordes of tourists swarming the area because of its location. While that is expected, the club, in a letter to Additional Municipal Commissioner A Sharma dated April 19, cited that "the original road, the Mahakavi Bhushan Marg, has been narrowed down, while taxis and huge tourist buses are allowed to park and double park, resulting in total chaos and traffic jams." Earlier in the communication, the club had stated that the letter is about the illegal hawker menace, with its subject line highlighting the same. The first line of the letter asks for "urgent intervention on a matter of great concern."

The nuisance

Excerpts from the letter read: "In February 2005, the BMC with police help removed illegal hawkers and shops on Mahakavi Bhushan Marg, behind our building. These illegal shops and hawkers have been a great nuisance not only because of the dirtiness they caused but also as noise levels had increased and they had become the centre of undesirable activities, particularly in the late evenings." The next paragraph focused on the present. It said, "We observe a few hawkers have recently put up temporary sheds with plastic sheets and are hanging clothes for drying which obstructs light and air to our ground officers. This is a declared heritage building, which is 175 years old. The activities are creating a lot of problems for us."

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The letter states that the authorities must "help in keeping areas on Stevens Street, Mahakavi Bhushan Marg and Adam Street clean, as this is a major tourist destination." Though the letter was written mid-last month, this is an ongoing issue and though action may be taken, the hawkers tend to reappear. The area did not have hawkers a few days earlier. Yet, the hawkers were back at some spots outside the club over the past weekend. On Tuesday evening, hawkers seemed under control but there was a rush of double parked cabs, with pedestrians walking down the roads just a few inches away from tourist buses, BEST buses and cabs. Colaba locals fear the area behind the club will become a mini Fashion Street. Pervez Cooper tweeted about ‘another Fashion Street in the area', with a video to illustrate his fears.

No fear

According to Assistant Municipal Commissioner (A Ward) Shivdas Gurav, the cab and tourist bus issue falls under the traffic department, but the civic body looks into encroachments and undertakes aggressive drives periodically to ensure the hawkers stay away. "We undertook a drive three days ago and will ensure that this road doesn't turn into a mini Fashion Street. There are six hawkers who are legal and we have warned them to operate within their designated space. Two or three are illegal. There is a stubborn woman who sells lemon juice and tends to bring in her entire family. She will be firmly dealt with but we need constant vigilance," said Gurav.

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No of legal hawkers on street