Barricades gone, but NDA continues with searches in Pune

The recent Bombay high court order has made the National Defence Academy (NDA) remove the barricades from the Chandni Chowk-NDA Road but the academy still continues to carry out searches of every car and two-wheeler passing by the road.

Restaurant owners on the road, who had filed a public interest litigation in the high court after the NDA blocked access to the road on September 22, said that the continuing searches has resulted in a severe drop in business.

When DNA visited the spot on Monday, it found that every commuter had to go through security check. The crowd at the three prominent restaurants, which are located on the road, was visibly less.

Oasis restaurant’s partner Shekhar Pimpalkhare told DNA, “People are restricted from entering the road after 11 pm. Moreover, the customers are peeved at having to go through security checks. This has largely affected the business as the customers are apprehensive to visit our place. The security checks are causing harassment to the people.”

“Customers feel upset at facing security checks. The business has fallen drastically as the number of customers visiting our place has dropped,”  said owner of Garden Court restaurant, Sunder Pujari.

The NDA had blocked the road to all civilian traffic since September 22 citing security reasons. However, after the Bombay high court granted an interim relief to the owners of the restaurants, the barricades were removed from the entry point of the road and placed after the last restaurant, Khana Peena Jeena, from October 1.

Tapas Acharya, a customer at the Oasis restaurant told DNA, “It is awkward to go through security checks while in a party mood. Most people feel repulsed by the checks. We were more than six people planning to come for dinner at Oasis. But such circumstances made four of our friends cancel their plans.”