Citizen groups and urban planning activists across Mumbai have united to demand that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) immediately halt its upcoming pedestrian clearance drives until a comprehensive, independent audit of government and institutional encroachments is conducted.
The joint appeal comes in response to growing concerns that the civic body’s campaign will disproportionately penalise small-scale vendors and daily wage earners while completely turning a blind eye to massive structural obstructions set up by state authorities.
Activists argue that the city’s walkways are increasingly hostile to pedestrians, not because of vulnerable hawkers, but due to permanent installations like police chowkis, poorly placed utility boxes, official security cabins, and unauthorized government vehicle parking. By failing to hold state actors accountable, the BMC’s proposed eviction drive addresses only the symptoms of a deeper systemic failure rather than creating a truly walkable city.
The collective is urging the BMC to publicly map every single structural impediment on public land to ensure policy enforcement remains transparent, equal, and just. They insist that the right to safe mobility belongs to every Mumbaikar and that any urban cleanup must begin by clearing the roadblocks created by the state itself.
News Edit KV Raman
