Now, cops see street crime as a top job

MUMBAI: Suddenly, the low priority job of the city police-controlling street crimes-appears to have turned high priority.
Policemen have been asked to act against eunuchs entertaining their customers on pavements at nights, as well as beggars, drug addicts, rash drivers, chain-snatchers and hawkers.
On Monday and Tuesday, the police fined a total of 1,341 hawkers, 46 people for urinating in the open and littering the road, 21 people for creating nuisance at public places and 145 for rash and negligent driving.
Even senior police officers must be present on the spot during the drive. A senior police officer said that while the drive has been on for a month, on Monday, Vishwas Nangre-Patil, additional commissioner of police (west region), issued a warning to senior police inspectors, asking them to act seriously against street offenders. He even formed a special team, which will visit localities such as Hill Road, Juhu Chowpatty, and areas near railway stations.
Nangre-Patil told TOI: "We have identified 20 bottlenecks in our area (between Bandra, Jogeshwari and Powai) that create problems for motorists as well as pedestrians. I asked my men to act against people who create problems at these points, mainly hawkers, and also against persons who create nuisance on the road." The police have also booked drug addicts.
G T Padwal, ACP, Kherwadi division, said, "We have nothing against hawkers but we act against them if they violate the rules."