A spotless dream
brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (bmc) is all set to fulfill the dream of clean, hawker free roads in Mumbai. For which they have decided to hand over the upkeep of certain roads to individuals, non-governmental organisations (ngos) and to the corporate sector.
"Any individual or organisation willing to maintain roads in their locality can come forward to join us in this new endeavour,' informs Chandrashekhar Rokde, deputy municipal commissioner (special), bmc.
This move aimed at checking encroachments in non-hawking zones comes in the wake of a high court order dated May 3, 2001 for a hawker and non-hawker zone in Mumbai. There are around 40 major and 131 minor hawker free roads in Mumbai today.
"The response has been very good. We have already received more than 50 applications for sponsorship of certain roads and have cleared 90 per cent of them,' adds Rokde. The scheme calls for sponsors to maintain roads and keep them encroachment free at their own expense. They are also allowed to commercially exploit the space. Except for drainage clearance and traffic control, the sponsors will be completely responsible for the maintenance of the streets.
"Municipality has limited utility services to prevent encroachments and here we can pitch in by keeping the roads free of hawkers and slum dwellers,' says Madhu Sawant, chairperson, I Clean Mumbai (icn), an ngo based in Mumbai, which has adopted B D Sawant street in Andheri. The Worli sea promenade too is being maintained by the Worli Seawoods Association.