Traders go to top cop; hope the Mumbai CP Vivek Phansalkar will help untie knotty issues

Atul Maru, Viren Shah, Suresh Seth with police chief Vivek Phansalkar

The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA) chief Viren Shah along with National Sports Club of India (NSCI) office-bearers Atul Maru and Suresh Seth paid a congratulatory visit to the newly appointed Commissioner of Police (CP) Vivek Phansalkar at the top cop's Crawford Market headquarters on Thursday morning.

Said Shah, who is also the president-elect of NSCI, "It is customary as a club, we do meet the commissioner to say congratulations. NSCI, though, was not the focus of this meet. As FRTWA chief, my aim was to apprise Phansalkar about various problems we are facing. I also realised that the CP considered us, shopkeepers, as barometers for the common man. Since we are in contact with so many people daily we do have a handle on certain problems the ordinary person faces, he felt."

Said Shah, "Shop owners and retailers on the whole were excited and enthused about the meeting. It was evident that the CP wanted to understand the issues of the common man through both, the consumers and shop keepers."

Shah added that he did tell him about the recent Dadar model where there is a valet parking service for shoppers and parking space, hoping that it could be replicated across the city, especially in SoBo.

Shah said, "The CP was interested in calling for a meeting of different shop owners or managers, to find out firsthand what we are facing. We want to highlight theft in and around shops, CCTV surveillance and detection, and of course the hawkers and shops problems, which is most important. We need a solution to the most vexatious subject today. There have been several ways to find out how we can co-exist, but it is a difficult scenario and one that needs attention and change."

Cybercrime, under whose ambit come aspects like paying digitally and using cards in shops, was also touched upon. Shah added, "We want to fix up a bigger, in-depth meeting soon, we want to keep the group to about 50, and see how to take this ahead."

A SoBo shop owner, who is not a part of the FRTWA but did know about the meet because of the retail network, said wearily, "On the hawkers vs shop owners problems, we have heard the phrase mee karto [I am doing something] with tiresome consistency through the years."

Haresh Hathiramani, Colaba Residents and Shopkeepers Association (CRSA) member, stated, "The key here is coordination between two agencies, the police force and the BMC. When we approach one stating that we have an issue, we are told this is a civic problem. When we approach the BMC, the civic authorities claim this needs the police force."

An owner stated that the Colaba Causeway shopping strip has become the site for pitched battles. "House gullies have been taken over and flower pots outside shops have been smashed. We need a way out and if there has to be co-existence, it has to be within a legal framework." Shop owners who are not part of the Federation said Shah's was a customary though welcome outreach. "We hope it leads us on the path of resolution," they finished.