The incident, which created traffic snarls in the area, was similar to the protests that broke out on Saturday.
Protests against the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan at Dadar boiled over again on Tuesday, with some protesters forcing shops to be shut down in the Dadar area. They hurled wooden sticks and small stones on the glass doors of shops in the vicinity and when that did not help break the glass, bigger stones were used.
In fact, in the case of a certain wine shop, the owner alleged that a mob took away alcohol bottles after causing damage to the shop.
The incident, which created traffic snarls in the area, was similar to the protests that broke out on Saturday. On Saturday, too, as the news about the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan trickled in, protestors forced shops to be shut down on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, all the way to Dadar TT.
Rahul Shirodkar, the owner of Shirodkar Opticals that was ransacked, said: "I was out of town when I was informed about the protest by my staff. I came back to check on what was going on. I don't know who they were, what their intentions were and what they will gain by demolishing my shop."
The police were present at the spot and brought the situation under control after a long time. "When aggressors want to express their anger, they either choose to destroy government or public property. Here, they decided to take action by demolishing public property," said Tanaji Suralkar, a senior police inspector at Bhoiwada police station.
Meanwhile, a war of words ensued between Ratnakar Gaikwad, the state chief information commissioner, and Prakash and Anandraj Ambedkar, descendants of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. "They want to usurp the property and are hence opposing the development, which was Babasaheb's dream," Gaikwad said about Prakash and Anandraj Ambedkar at a press conference, where he spoke as an 'advisor' to the trust.
When contacted, Prakash Ambedkar said: "It is useless calling him an advisor. He is not a trustee and does not have any right to talk on the subject. We will not allow him to grab the land. He and his brother-in-law and the present trustee want to grab the property. I have been in the property for the past 50 years. It is my grandfather's property."
Anandraj Ambedkar said, "If we wanted to usurp land, we would have done it a long time ago. Mr Gaikwad has connections with builders and they are involved in usurping it. It is a prime plot of land. We did not challenge the notice because the BMC has given us time and their report on structural stability stated that the structure is safe."
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