Mumbai: If people are playing cricket and kabaddi on DN Road in front of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on a Monday morning and the police are only helplessly watching then one can well imagine the plight of millions of hapless Mumbaikars. The police have heavily barricaded all access to CSTM letting the Maratha agitators have a free run of the heart of the city.
The entire swathe from Azad Maidan, where Manoj Jarange Patil is on an indefinite fast for the fourth day, up CSTM, city police headquarters, Metro junction and Hutatma Chowk have been occupied by thousands of Maratha protestors and more are coming from the rest of Maharashtra to join to further outnumber the police. "I have never seen Mumbai police in such a helpless state," said Akhilesh Mishra, a cabbie who has been plying his trade for over two decades.
Mumbaikars Wake Up With A High Level Of Anxiety
Mumbaikars woke up on Monday morning with a high level of anxiety about reaching their respective places of work because of the Maratha reservation agitation. Local trains were operated, but getting down at CSTM was a problem because entire concourse has been occupied by the protestors who are eating food and sleeping on the platforms.
The state government's own nervousness was reflected by the fact that it has got the Mumbai police to heavily barricade the entire area around Mantralaya. This follows reports that the Jarange supporters may storm the seat of power. There is heavy police bandobast outside the police commissioner's office opposite Crawford Market because the protestors are only a stone's throw away.
The police have blocked DN Road forcing south-bound vehicles coming down JJ flyover and from Mohd Ali Road to turn right at JJ Art College and move towards Dhobi Talao. MG Road at Metro cinema junction going towards CST too has been barricaded.
Bombay High court, which closed for Ganesh festival, is scheduled to reopen only on Tuesday. The new chief justice-designate Justice Shree Chandrashekar is yet to be sworn in. Advocate Gunaratna Sadavarte, a staunch critic of Jarange Patil, is expected to move the high court on Tuesday and getting an order for getting the activists to vacate Azad Maidan since their three-day permission for the dharna expired on Sunday evening.
