Ambedkar Bhavan demolition protests: Mumbai stuck in traffic for 5 hrs

Motorists in the island city found themselves caught in a five-hour-long traffic jam on Tuesday.

Members of the Ambedkar Bhavan Sangharsh Samiti and mileage-seeking politicians had blocked bridges and roads right from Lalbaug up to Cuffe Parade over the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan at Dadar several weeks ago.

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Protestors jam the Byculla flyover to express their angst over the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

Motorists were caught on Byculla bridge between 1pm and 1.45pm, even as the police struggled to control the protesting crowds, many of whom were hurling stones at shops. At CST, from 2pm until 5pm, protesters stood on the chowk outside the terminus, preventing vehicles from passing through.

The protests, that had been threatened last week, were to start from the site of the demolished building right up to Mantralaya. The objective was to storm the Mantralaya and demand the suspension of Ratnakar Gaikwad, advisor to Ambedkar's People's Improvement Trust, for ordering the demolition. When they were denied permission to go to the Mantralaya and were instead directed to the Azad Maidan, furious protesters sat outside CST for a good three hours. They screamed slogans against the BJP, RSS and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded the bhavan be rebuilt. Choice abuse was flung at Gaikwad.

Photos: Protesters block roads during protests against Ambedkar Bhavan demolition

Congress MLA Varsha Gaikwad and the Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe were seen at the protests. Politicians were perched on a makeshift stage atop an open truck. Gorhe loudly demanded an inquiry into the demolition, while stating that Uddhav Thackeray had condemned it right from the beginning.

Not to be left behind, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar took to twitter addressing Fadnavis and stated that a heritage structure had been demolished instead of being preserved. He demanded an inquiry into why the building had been declared dilapidated. He even posted a picture, to which the CM responded saying he had asked Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta to probe the matter and take action. JNU student union president Kanhiaya Kumar, too, was spotted at the protests.

Commuters speak
At Byculla, pedestrians had to dodge stones that protesters were throwing stones at shops demanding that they be shut. Imran Khan, who has been running a shoe shop right next to Byculla bridge, said, "Stones were hurled at us and people were yelling, ‘shut the shop'. Because the roofs were made of plastic, nobody was injured. What if the stones had hit someone? I have lost half a day's business."

Mohan Chaurasiya, a paan seller, said, "Some of the protesters threw stones at us. They should have at least asked us politely to shut shop."

When the morcha reached CST, all hell broke loose. The truck carrying protesting politicians stood right in the middle of the road. Motorists going from Byculla towards CST, Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Nariman Point, Girgaum areas were badly hit.

Ashok Kumar Pandey, who was going from CST towards Mumbadevi, was told to take a different route. "I turned around and went via Metro cinema. It cost me an extra 20 minutes."

Raghu Bhalerao, who was travelling from CST to Ghatkopar on his bike, said, "I had come to BMC for some work and had parked my bike outside. When I came back I was bang in the middle of the protests and was stuck for two hours."