KOLHAPUR: The civic body has decided to remove over 700 cabins and other encroachments along road sides to avoid the traffic congestion observed often in those areas.The action will start on Monday and the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation has requested police deployment to protect the anti-encroachment teams in case of a face-off between the civic workers and the encroachers.The action has been planned after the authorities received complaints from citizens that the roads are getting narrower due to encroachments and that illegal cabins have sprouted at many places at the behest of local corporators. The civic administration has found that out of over 50 road side vendors, mostly food stalls, just 17 have the KMC's permit to do business.Chief city engineer Netradip Sarnobat said, "Recently we had a meeting with top police officials who have promised deployment of police personnel for the anti-encroachment drive. The action has been delayed due to the possibility of opposition from vendors. Two days ago we have appealed to the encroachers to remove their cabins and stop conducting business along road sides. We had warned them that otherwise the KMC team will confiscate all the materials and it will not be returned. Along with cabins and stalls, we are going to remove the illegal shelters and constructions which are affecting the road traffic."Meanwhile, the hawkers union has claimed that the KMC has not carried out a survey and that claims of over 700 illegal cabins came up recently."We are demanding implementation of the Street Vendors Act for the past five years and proper space for vendors to do their businesses. We are not against the ban on hawking on some roads but the rehabilitation proposal of the KMC is unfair to the poor hawker doing his business. We will meet the civic officials and will ask them not to proceed with their plan," said Dilip Pawar , head of Kolhapur Hawkers Union.

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