WITH Diwali round the corner, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) tried to enforce order on city streets but when they reached Sitabuldi Main Road, they faced stiff resistance from hawkers on Monday. With heavy rush in the market, the hawkers resented the antiencroachment drive and in the process, they got engaged in a street brawl with the officials of Dharampeth Zone of NMC. Assistant Commissioner Prakash Varade, who was leading the drive against encroachment, faced trouble as 40 to 50 hawkers and their supporters mobbed him.

 

The incident happened on Monday afternoon and as the argument heated-up, the enraged hawkers allegedly manhandled the Assistant Commissioner. Sensing trouble, the NMC anti-encroachment team decided to halt the drive against encroachments on the main road to avoid any law and order problem. With diwali shopping frenzy at its peak, the NMC too is trying to rein in encroachers to ensure that citizens do not face any trouble. On Sunday, during the fire fighting operations at a shop where fire had   broken out, the Fire Brigade team faced trouble in reaching the spot due to presence of hawkers on the Sitabuldi Main Road.

 

Hence, the Dharampeth Zone officials decided to take action on their own without taking help of Sitabuldi police. But hawkers were in no mood to relent as displacement at this time would mean suffering heavy losses as buyers would switch over to other modes to get their clothes. And since many of them had invested substantial sums in stocking up fresh goods, the hawkers put up a united show and forced NMC officials to retreat, atleast for a day.