The hawkers threatened to intensify their `tit-for-tat' action into an indefinite and `if necessary violent' agitation at a state-level meeting organised by the Maharashtra Hawkers' Union at Veer Savarkar Hall adjacent to the Mayor's bungalow at Shivaji Park today.

Several allied mazdoor unions are expected to join a morcha on Tuesday from August Kranti Maidan to the Vidhan Sabha via the police commissioner's office to express solidarity with the hawkers affected by the eviction drive launched by various municipalities across the state.

Union leaders condemned the evictions in Nasik, Nagpur, Pune, Thane, Navi Mumbai among other cities where hawkers were evicted and replaced by stalls of local shakhas, their goods confiscated or robbed.

``If we stop selling our wares for a week, it will disrupt life in the city, cripple the state'seconomy and in turn shake the economy of the country,'' said Sharad Rao, president, Mumbai Mazdoor Union (MMU) while Shankarao Salvi, general secretary, Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat, accused the state government of lying about removal of hawkers only from within 250 meters distance from the railway stations.

``The drive is a total farce,'' Salvi said urging the union members to `beat up' the corporators and civic officials.

``At several places which the drive has stepped on places which do not fall within this limit. Its a total farce,''he thundered appealing to hawkers present to resist all attempts to remove them from their sites.``Beat up the corporators and civic officials who come to evict you.''he told a cheering crowd.

Over one lakh hawkers were affected after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) launched its eviction drive from June 1, 1998, said Suresh Kapile of the Mumbai Hawkers Union (MHU). ``The government has kicked self-employed persons in the stomach. Many have stopped theirchildren from attending schools and colleges,'' he added.

The union leaders announced that the morcha will be followed by rail and rasta rokos, mini morchas to the residence of local assembly and parliament representatives. ``If your sites are replaced by other hawkers, don't hesitate to remove them. If vehicles are parked on the site, destroy them,'' said Rao.