Action against 100+ errant auto drivers, hawkers during surprise raid outside Kalyan station

In welcome news for commuters, police have taken action against over 120 errant autorickshaw drivers, illegal hawkers and others responsible for spreading nuisance outside Kalyan station’s premises.

A police team comprising of over 100 officials led by ACP Anil Powar conducted a surprise raid outside the station around 10 pm on Wednesday.

By the end of the raid, which went on till about 2 am, cops had reportedly taken action against 127 people – which included 95 errant auto drivers, 14 illegal hawkers, 10 prostitutes, and eight gamblers.

The errant drivers were fined and let off, albeit with a warning of a more stringent action in the future.

Since months, commuters have been complaining about the congestion outside the busy Kalyan station, where hundreds of autorickshaw drivers line up haphazardly to pick up passengers. Illegal hawkers and anti-social elements only worsen the situation.

Earlier this month, a Twitter user, Yogesh Gowani, shared some visuals of the chaos outside the station.

“This is regular scene of Kalyan Station entrance being blocked by arrogant rickshaw wala and they don’t allow even Ola to come and take customers. Just look at the visuals,” he said.

Rupesh Sawant, another netizen who has been highlighting the issue on social media since some time, corroborated the same.

“Shameless, arrogant rikshawalas. These are the pics of #Kalyan_station blocking the entrance. Corrupt #Kalyan_RTO ignorant #Kalyan_traffic_police where is law and order? The most corrupt administration #KDMC,” he said.

@smartkdmc @abpnewstv @Dev_Fadnavis @DrSEShinde @mid_day
Just see the arrogance of the rikshaw walas at #kalyan_station blocking the padestrain way to enter station, impotent corrupt #kalyan_traffic_police , corrupt #KDMC shameless corporators. kalyan city is a failed city pic.twitter.com/pkOSbIS20L

— Rupesh Sawant (@rupsawant14) May 11, 2019

According to reports, the newly appointed DCP, Vivek Pansare, took notice of the complaints and started operation ‘All Out’ to take action against the culprits.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time police have carried out such a major combing operation outside the station premises. Just last month, cops had taken action against 75 auto drivers and seized 17 autos.

While several commuters have lauded the police for their action, others remained skeptical due to its limited long term effect.

In a related development, CR will shut the Lokgram foot-over-bridge at Kalyan station from midnight of May 18-19 to overhaul the structure.

While the FOB is shut, passengers and locals will have to use skywalk available at Karjat-end of Kalyan station.

Also Read: CR to dismantle FOBs at Kurla, Vikhroli, Bhandup, Diva & Kalyan stations