Wakad Residents Troubled by Encroachments and Hawkers, Seek Action From PCMC

Residents of Wakad are worried as several hawkers & vendors have occupied the footpaths & roads at Sai Chowk area, forcing pedestrians to walk on roads,risking their lives. These hawkers are not just creating traffic problems, but they are also adding to the noise pollution and health concerns. 

Speaking to Pune Pulse, Akshay Joshi, a resident of Wakad, said “Earlier, there were only 1 to 2 hawkers near Sai Chowk, However, day by day, the number of hawkers is increasing to 10, 15 & more. Hence, footpaths are completely encroached. Customers coming to the hawkers park their vehicles on road only. Hence, this prevents us from walking on the footpaths & creating traffic problems. A lot of commercial development is happening on Pink City Road. Hence, there are several vehicles roaming around in the stretch. There is no limitation for giving permissions to food establishments. Thus, the number of people coming to the area has increased a lot. There is no individual parking space for these food establishments. So, their customers park vehicles on the road & footpath.”

Akshay Joshi continues “The hawkers, when the crowd is not much in the afternoon time, install their stalls in between the vehicular parking space so that no vehicle can park their vehicles. Also, these hawkers have installed loudspeakers with recorded messages which keep playing, creating noise pollution. Some of these hawkers are there for several years, still nothing concrete is done to remove them. Don’t know from where they get permission to install their businesses.”

As per further information from residents,

·         Temporary establishments in the form of patra sheds -food joints, vegetable vendors, garages, furniture shops consider footpaths and roads as their personal space and have encroached it.

·         Illegal hawkers randomly set up their shops using their thelas, tempos, etc. on the footpath and in the areas dedicated for parking on the road. So, due to this the visitors to such illegal sellers park their vehicles around them on footpaths and roads which lead to further problems like jams. Jams on weekends are regular as there is only one lane available out of two due to encroachments and vehicles plying on the road are large in numbers.

·         These hawkers park their thelas or tempos in dedicated parking slots in such a way that no other vehicle which has right to park cannot do so around them and make sure their customers can only access it.

·         Loud pre-recorded messages on the speakers by such hawkers further lead to a lot of disturbance. Despite multiple complaints they don’t listen.

·         The road has become more commercial than residential so demand for parking space is very high. Customers visiting food courts, hypermarkets, etc park on the footpaths.

Dattatray Deshmukh, Chairman, Pimpri Chinchwad Housing Societies Federation, said “The footpaths in the area have been widened due to which several hawkers install their businesses. Also, vehicles are parked on the road. So, there is no space either for pedestrians or vehicles to go from there. Weekly markets go on in the Sai Chowk area. Traffic jams take place. Same situation is there from Chhatrapati Chowk to Bhumkar Chowk. No authority is taking action about this. The roads have become so small due to the hawker issue that vehicles cannot take a turn from there. We have lodged several complaints but no action is taken.”

Ankush Jadhav, Ward Officer, PCMC ‘D’ Ward, said “We are regularly taking action against the hawkers in Sai Chowk. We will send our officers to the location & take relevant action today as well.”

Shreyas Vange