Take action to remove hawkers outside Haji Ali: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday observed that "You (state) has left everything to the almighty when it comes to controlling hawkers and illegal mushrooming of stalls on government land outside the Haji Ali Dargah.

A division bench of Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice BP Colabawala said "Whether it is a dargah, temple or church you (state) is not able to control the festivities. You allow encroachments, unauthorised stalls to come up on government land, people are forced to walk on roads, soon there will be a calamity and there will be death and destruction."

The bench further asked the government to evolve a beautification policy which would be a long term plan. "Building parks, putting lights is not enough." It also suggested the government to have two entry /exit points at Haji Ali to avoid any untoward incident on the narrow road leading to the dargah.

The observation were made by the court while hearing a petition filed by two stall owners who were given notice by the collector to vacate a platform build by the government just outside the dargah. The bench has given two weeks time to the stall owners to appeal against the order of the divisional commissioner which had upheld the removal order passed by the deputy collector, last year.

There are around 80 to 100 stall on the platform before the entrance of the dargah. In an earlier petition, the high court had asked the government to initiate action against the illegal stall owners and hawkers who sell their wares on the road leading to the dargah and outside it. Following which the petitioners were also served with a notice.

The court raised an alarm bell as regards to the condition of the area where the Haji Ali dargah is situated. It said, "The subways are full, people walk on the roads except the traffic in the center of the roads there is no place for anything else. No emergency aid or rescue vehicles can reach smoothly from this area. If you don't wish to do anything for the city and its citizens even we don't want to do anything."