2 minutes of readingBombayUpdated: Jan 30, 2026 08:15 pm IST
In an eviction drive carried out on Friday morning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation expelled around 200 illegal street vendors from Andheri West area in Mumbai.
This is the second time in the last three months that civic authorities have taken such action against unauthorized hawkers in Bombay. Prior to this, in November, the BMC had evicted nearly 100 unauthorized street vendors who were encroaching on public spaces in south Mumbai’s Colaba area.
“The drive was started to free up public space and decongest the existing road in Andheri. The authorities had identified unauthorized vendors who had set up stalls and on Friday morning these stalls were removed and action was taken against them,” a civic official said. The official also maintained that the campaign will be constant and continuous.
“We received complaints from the traffic department stating that the road carriageway space was reduced due to the presence of hawkers, posing a serious threat to both pedestrians and motorists. Since heavy vehicles like BEST buses ply on these roads, it was necessary to remove the hawkers to keep the footpaths and roads less congested,” the official said.
In April last year, the Bombay High Court had directed the BMC to evict all street vendors operating without a licence. Last year, the BMC had also initiated a pedestrian-friendly policy with an aim to clear Mumbai’s roads of hawkers.
As part of this drive, the BMC has selected high footfall areas such as areas outside railway stations, key traffic junctions and commercial districts from where unauthorized hawkers would be removed.