The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has directed officials to ensure that no paan shop operates within 50 metres of a school or college, while ordering coordinated enforcement against unauthorised vendors, encroachments and late-night food carts across the city.
NMMC Commissioner Kailas Shinde issued the instructions during a review meeting held on Friday, asking departmental officers to work with school principals and college heads on sustained action around educational institutions. The police have also been asked to support the municipal machinery during enforcement.
The directive comes against the backdrop of concerns raised at the meeting about the use and sale of narcotic substances among students. Shinde instructed officials to keep particular watch on paan shops in the vicinity of schools and colleges. The report did not specify the number of establishments covered by the order or announce a separate implementation deadline.
The commissioner also ordered a special drive to clear footpaths before Ganeshotsav. Municipal ward offices have been told to prepare action plans, appoint enforcement teams and set priorities for removing obstructions. Licensed vendors are to be shifted to alternative locations, while unauthorised vendors will face removal action.
The areas identified for special attention include footpaths near schools, hospitals, railway stations and markets. NMMC said action against unauthorised vendors is currently carried out during the day, but complaints have been received about food carts operating from the evening until midnight. The commissioner therefore directed the formation of separate night teams and ordered action against such carts.
Officials were also asked to examine measures to prohibit the sale of food on roads after 11 p.m. The directions call for daily and sustained enforcement against unauthorised street vendors rather than one-time drives.
Railway stations and their surrounding areas were separately discussed in relation to narcotics. Shinde asked the police to take the lead in preventing the sale and use of drugs at stations, with assistance from the municipal corporation.
The review meeting covered several other civic issues. The commissioner directed officials to conduct a campaign addressing the growing number of homeless people and its reported effects on sanitation and city planning. Police cooperation was also sought to remove abandoned vehicles from roads and railway-station parking areas, where officials said such vehicles were contributing to unclean surroundings.
Ahead of Ganeshotsav, the meeting reviewed pothole repairs, tree pruning along arrival and immersion routes, arrangements for artificial ponds, street lighting and action against unauthorised banners. NMMC officers were instructed to take up these works immediately. Additional commissioners, city engineering officials, ward officers, department heads, executive engineers, police representatives and officials from CIDCO’s encroachment control department attended the meeting.
