After Ghatkopar, Thane too feels the heat

Shops are ransacked in Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Mulund, Chembur, Thane district

Violent protests that paralysed parts of Ghatkopar and Chembur in the Central suburbs on Wednesday spread to adjoining Thane district on Thursday. Thane city came to a standstill for several hours on Thursday after thousands of Dalit protestors violently agitated against the alleged desecration of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue at Kanpur on late Tuesday night.

Gangs of young men went on a rampage in Charai and Pachpakhadi late Wednesday night and damaged over 50 private vehicles. Though there were heavy police bandobast in sensitive areas such as Indira, Sathe and Vartak nagars and the Wagle Estate, perpetrators damaged 22 Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) buses.

Dalit protestors forced Thane businesses, private and public banks and educational institutes to down shutters. Fearing additional property damage, TMT authorities pulled buses off the road on Wednesday. Vehicular traffic on the busy Mumbai-Nashik Highway came to a standstill for half an hour when RPI workers staged a rasta roko near Anand Nagar checknaka. Some men also looted shops in Lokmanya Nagar and Wagle Estate areas.

Around 90 RPI supporters from Wagle Estate gathered near Hotel Vikrant and forced owner Vijay Ghag to down the shutter. On his refusal, the mob threatened to damage the hotel. In retaliation, Ghag fired his pistol in the air to disperse the mob. The youth then attacked the hotel, destroying it. Kashinath Kachre, assistant commissioner of police, Wagle Estate division, confirmed the incident.

Central suburbs of Bhandup, Mulund and Chembur, which were relatively calm on Wednesday, reported violence on Thursday.