Andheri locals protest against stalls near station

Civic activists and Andheri residents took out a morcha at the K-East ward office to protest against assistant commissioner Devendra Jain after he allowed stalls to be put up on the main road near the station area. The original location of the stalls was in the way of the autorickshaw ramp outside the Andheri (East) side of the railway station.

The civic activists and local residents insisted that the action on the part of the BMC's ward office was illegal and unacceptable.

"How can a ward office arbitrarily allow the stalls to be shifted to the new location without taking residents into confidence. Shop owners in Andheri (East) were equally upset about the fact that their path was blocked by these stalls," said civic activist Aftab Siddique.

However, Jain has a different story to tell, saying that the decision was taken after a mutual agreement was reached in the Bombay High Court. "We had shown three locations earlier, but the stall owners did not agree. They insisted on this location. We had to shift them to make way for the autorickshaw ramp, hence the decision," Jain said, adding, "we cannot put a project at stake for the sake of a few shopkeepers, keeping the larger interest of people in mind."