Traders, ‘elitists’ in Mexican stand-off over sealing?

Traders, ‘elitists’ in Mexican stand-off over sealing?
Deccan Herald

A face-off of sorts between the traders of Sadashivnagar who are affected by the sealing against land-use violations and the members of the Sadashivnagar Residents Welfare Association...

A face-off of sorts between the traders of Sadashivnagar who are affected by the sealing against land-use violations and the members of the Sadashivnagar Residents Welfare Association, whose petition to the High Court led to the sealings, reportedly took place on Sunday.

A group of the affected traders and property owners are learnt to have barged into a meeting of the SRWA that was on at the Sadashivnagar Club on Sunday forenoon and demanded that they be heard.

“Now that the matter has gone to court, there is nothing to be done but wait for the law to takes its course. We, however, ensured that those responsible for filing the case now understand the distress they have caused to their friends and neighbours,” noted an affected property owner. The traders and their shop/property-owners hold it against the SRWA that they were not consulted before the association approached the court. An SRWA representative repo-rtedly told the affected gr-oup that the association approached the court only after their efforts to get the BMP to act on its own failed.


Host of issues

The affected parties are, meanwhile, drawing attention to a host of other issues in their area. Among them are the SRWA-maintained park levying entry fee and the spurt of educational institutions.

Their arguments run thus: Collecting an entry fee has meant that barring the morning and evening walks, residents rarely use the park located opposite the Sankey Tank. The college run by an education society has over the years increased the number of its degree courses and has also started a law college. The park and college have meant daily influx of outsiders to the residential area and anti-social activities are on the rise.