Crawford Market fire: Shopkeepers rue losses

Worried and strained faces, group discussions in hardly audible voices and often erupting altercations were the story in front of the Sara-Sahara Market on Sunday.

Anxious shopkeepers were desperately trying to move all the remaining material from the shops in Manish Market, which also had caught fire.

“Bahut nuksaan hua hai. Dus dukan khaakh ho gaye (I have suffered tremendous loss. Ten shops have been burnt),” said a person, sitting on a footpath and watching his men trying to rescue the remaining material. “Mujhe kucch nahi bolna. Samajhe aap (I do not want to say anything. You got that)?” he said.

Few moments later, police constables lathi-charged a crowd gathered in front of the Manish Market. “There is no use going in. All of you cannot go inside. How many times should we tell you this?” shouted the constable.

Vikas Mayekar, a resident, said the shopkeepers do not want the fire brigade or the BMC to go inside to remove the scrap.

“They want themselves to go inside and want to check what is remaining. They want to clean their shops on their own. These clashes with the police are inevitable,” he said.

With no electricity inside, the administration had put halogen lights at the entrance of Manish Market. A number of shopkeepers wanted to go inside, which led to the fight between the shopkeepers. Some of the shopkeepers were taken away from the spot in a police van.

The owners were also trying to rescue the remaining material from their shops. The discussions in the groups were no different.

It was the calculation of loss, police’s behaviour and plans of what is to be done next.