Mumbai, Oct 29 (PTI) The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) workers, who have been forcefully driving away hawkersfrom near railway station areas of the city, should be readyto face retaliation from these vendors, Mumbai Congresspresident Sanjay Nirupam said today.
MNS has adopted an aggressive stance against hawkersoccupying railway station premises after the Elphinstone Roadrailway station stampede that claimed 23 lives and its workershave been driving away illegal vendors since October 15.
"The MNS may have domination in some pockets where itcan target the hawkers due to a strong cadre base but theparty workers should be ready for retaliation, at other placeswhere the hawkers are united," Nirupam said.
"There has been a strong bias of police departmentwhen it comes to taking action against me and MNS workers,"Nirupam alleged.
Some MNS workers, including a Malad based leader, wereseverely beaten up by local hawkers outside Malad railwaystation yesterday.
The MNS workers then rushed to Malad by evening andattacked the hawkers.
Nirupam also went there to extend his support to thehawkers, claiming that MNS has no right to be aggressiveagainst themA police case has been registered against Nirupam forholding a rally without permission.
Speaking to reporters today the Mumbai unit chiefsaid, "Illegal hawkers issue is a global problem and notconfined to Mumbai city alone. A lot of bribe is being paid tocontinue to do business as illegal hawkers and some MNSleaders are also involved in it.""I have demanded several times that the hawkers shouldget proper license to operate, but no one is keen on solvingthe issue," he claimed. PTI NDRMT.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.