Licences of 54 Fashion Street stalls suspended over violations

MUMBAI: The BMC has decided to suspend licences of 54 stalls on Fashion Street in south Mumbai after they were found violating conditions on the basis of which licenses were issued and their inaction to comply with the notices served to them.
According to BMC officials, the stall owners sold items that they were not allowed to according to their licences.They also violated the space clause and used more than the allotted 1m X 1m space.
The civic body has taken approval of the additional municipal commissioner to suspend the licences of the 54 stall owners and notices would be issued to the shop owners in a couple of days.
The BMC has been following a ‘pedestrian-first policy’ under which it had earlier suspended 39 licences for violations, and the matter is pending in the high court.
Civic body officials have been trying to contain illegal hawking and encroachment in the area and have, several times in the past, issued notices to stalls for blocking footpath by erecting iron pipes and bamboos.
A crackdown on hawkers and stalls on pavements and footpaths was initiated by the civic body after it received several complaints from citizens about encroachments.