Delhi

I came home yesterday to see this. The scene had been repeated some months ago in Bangalore. Here not only the shopkeepers the whole of the locality called a "bandh" to demonstrate their solidarity for a common cause. What really put me off is the fact that the people who suffer as a result of these "peaceful demonstrations" are the innocent and mostly honest people. In Bangalore for instance, there was a shopkeeper(where we used to get our regular supplies) whose shop was forcefully shut down by others even though it was authorized. Now if you are a green grocer, the loss as a result of the rotting fruits and vegetables can be pretty huge.

The problem in Delhi is even worse. Almost every street has a store which is not supposed to be there. Whenever there is any voice against these traders, there are the usual arguments -

He is jealous of us, he should in fact salute our enterprising ability
Near my older home in Delhi, one of the enterprising fellows who had a corner house in a DDA housing complex decided to open an Indian fast food and sweet shop in his garden. The shop became successful but its popularity became a bane for the others. Traffic got blocked, garbage was left out in the open, and the place became very congested. While I would like to salute his enterprising ability, what he did was simply not acceptable. Once he grew in size, he could have easily shifted to the nearby shopping complex and still able to retain the goodwill. I have no problems with anyone starting his business from a house as long as it does not create a nuisance for the rest of the folks. But imagine if you have a banquet hall or an electronics goods showroom next to your house - how would you feel? Most people have a problem only when the shop becomes too big to be housed in a flat and spills over onto the street.

What would we do if you take this place what would we do?
It is not that these people had no other means of livelihood - the enterprising fellow near my home had a regular government job and he used to moonlight as an shopkeeper. The same is the case with most of the shopkeepers in these residential localities. If they did not have any other source of income, how come they could buy such a costly house in the first place?

We provide valuable service and on "humanitarian grounds" we should be allowed to stay
This is the argument made especially by schools. Most of the private schools in Delhi are rung out of flats. Well if you really care for the students in these schools, I believe that they should be closed because the quality of education imparted in these schools is miserable. If the government is really concerned about their academics they should not have approved these schools in the first place. As for the shopkeepers, most have other jobs as well especially those boutique owners in posh South Delhi localities.

Change the Master Plan
This really takes the cake. Many of the General Secretaries and Treasurers of these traders association are also office bearers in the political parties. These traders also form one of the largest sources of party funding. Its simply a case of you scratch my back and I would scratch yours. Mr Reddy even seems to believe that it is the courts which are at fault.

The most unfortunate fallout would be that government would play to the vote bank and change the law. Even if it does not the MCD would hit the small shopkeepers who are mostly innocuous and more likely to have no other source of livelihood while the big fish in those swanky neighborhoods would payup or get a stay order and escape.

This is a repost - it was posted before my blogs were deleted on 21 Sep. 2006