Dadar Market throws caution to the wind

As one of the city's most crowded markets, the Dadar Market near Dadar railway station is prone to terror attack, without any proper security measures in place.

Hawkers add to the woes of security forces with police personnel often tackling the hawkers for creating a menace.

Add to that, with Dadar railway station right adjacent to the market, it is kept busy 365 days of the year. With no barricades installed outside the market, vehicles can enter and leave the market without being detected.

Major shopping outlets located right outside Dadar railway station and major roads like Ranade Road and Chabildas Road connecting the market, make it difficult for the police to barricade these roads in order to ensure security.

The lack of anti-ramming barricades near the railway station could lead to a major incident while the police's high dependency on just eight CCTV cameras in the market could lead to a security failure.

When DNA visited the Dadar market, only one policeman was posted on Thursday, just one day before the Ganesh Chathurti festival when pre-festival shoppers throng the area.

Sachin Dadarkar, owner of Laxmi wholesale flowers, said, "During weekends and especially during festivals, the crowd increases by large numbers which makes it impossible for emergency vehicles to pass by. Incidents of theft and pickpocketing have already increased due to the lack of police presence." He added, "Police response to any incident like petty crimes is low and if they can't tackle such menace we cannot expect them to tackle major crimes taking place in the market."

Sunil Sawant, a resident of Ranade Road said, "The menace of traffic near the railway station is such that any anti-national element can easily keep explosives in the garbage bins which are not checked by the police teams. The stretch under the flyover is dark and there is no police force to deter any miscreant from indulging into anti-national activities."

The Western Railway has barricaded the pedestrian walkway under the flyover connecting the railway station on one side, but the police have failed to barricade the pedestrian walkway on the adjacent side of the flyover which could be a threat to railway commuters.

Gangadhar Sonawane, Senior Inspector, Shivaji Park police station said, "We cannot block the pedestrian walkway keeping in mind that it connects the vehicular way ahead. When we get complaints of hawkers we take action against them."