BMC ATTACK - A WAR ZONE

On Friday 2nd Dec,I had gone to townside for a meeting ( work related ).I had got down at GT.Road for sometime.As I stepped out of the station I was totally surprised to see the usual hustle bustle near the station missing.Infact the whole area looked quite deserted.Weird I thought since it wasnt a bandh on that day and moreover the big shops were open.But the unending line of street shops had gone mysteriously missing.Since majority of these shops are owned by muslims I wondered if they were observing friday prayers/holidays, although on early occasions ( fridays )I had never seen them shut shop in this manner.

Curious as to what was happening I walked towards the main bridge that led to more such street shops.I stopped on my tracks at what I saw.The whole area looked like a war zone.There were cops everywhere and also several of their typical blue police vans,and also many BMC trucks.They were all tearing down the extra extentions that these street shops had illegally constructed.All extra tin roofs were pulled down as BMC officials as well as the cops went on a destroying spree.These illegal shops does make the whole area look conjested and messy,but with them shut/gone it looks lifeless and baren too.These shops are like a lifeline.

People throng these street shops that sell all kinds of stuff like clothes,shoes,bags and accessories at very cheap rates.And people are always on a lookout for cheap stuff which makes these illegal street shops do a roaring business often as a result making a loss for the bigger shops.However,with the BMC and cops breaking their tinned roofs and shattering their business,it is gonna be sometime that they will be back in their former glory.But knowing how easy it is to bribe the cop or a BMC official I am sure that they'll soon manage to be back on the roads soon.After all it is not just 1-2 shops that we are talking about,but hundreds of street shops lined up in the entire GT.Road area.And these shops inspite of being illegal does give this place its identity and popularity.


: A Look at the hustle bustle of the busy GT.Road on happier days :