The Free Press Journal's campaign against the illegal furniture bazaar which encroached upon the arterial Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, Nagpada has bore fruits. The civic officials on Thursday swooped down on the furniture-sellers and carted away their wares. On Jan 4, the FPJ had highlighted how the massive encroachment not only resulted in traffic jams but also blocked access to the local municipal eye hospital.
๐๐ป๐๐ถ-๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด
The action comes after the FPJ prodded the civic officials and police department to look into the issue as just one lane of the road was left for vehicles, while the rest were occupied by chairs, tables, wardrobes, etc. Consequently, E-ward officials took the anti-encroachment drive. โThe real challenge is to ensure that they (encroachers) don't return,โ said local corporator of the Congress Javed Juneja.
๐๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น ๐ณ๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐
For several years, the illegal bazaar has been a major nuisance to local citizens. A resident, who did not wish to be identified fearing retaliation from the furniture sellers' lobby, said โThese furniture walas block a significant portion of the road by scattering their wares. The flow of vehicular traffic is majorly impacted. The problem is that the civic officials and traffic cops appear to be taken care of by these businessmen and that is why there is no action.โ
Mr Juneja said he had repeatedly complained to the ward office and the Joint Commissioner of Traffic without much success. He said repeated action must be taken against the illegal furniture walas. He underlined that even school buses and ambulances have difficulty in navigating this major road.
๐๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด '๐ต๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฎ' ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐
One of the furniture sellers candidly admitted that they give 'haftas' (bribes) when the civic officials and police come for eviction, and they go back without taking any action. Another said, โThe anti-encroachment drive is a temporary provision these authorities take to show that they are doing some work. They give us warnings, confiscate our wares and leave. Sometimes we bribe them and they don't harass us for a few days and even return the confiscated goods.โ
Denying the bribery allegation, Deepak Bhandare, Senior Inspector for Licensing in the E-Ward, claimed that his department was taking โconcrete actionโ against the encroachers.
He assured that the anti-encroachment drive started on Thursday will be continued. Local traffic police inspector Mubarak Shaikh maintained that it was the not job of the traffic police to remove furniture from roads.
