Zaveri Bazar shopkeeper moves court against police beat chowkie

The shop before the chowkie was constructed (right) with the beat chowkie almost complete, the shop is not visible anymore

A Shopkeeper from Zaveri Bazar has alleged that the beat chowkie of LT Marg police, constructed right in front of his shop, is leading to loss of business. Mitesh Sheth claimed he had requested the police to not build the chowkie in front of his shop and later also approached the BMC, but nothing has been done. Following this, Sheth has now moved court, which has ordered the police to submit a detailed report in the matter.

Sheth told mid-day, "When they were taking measurements in front of my shop, I had enquired and learnt they were planning to construct a beat chowkie. I had told them that the chowkie would completely cover my shop front, making it invisible to customers, but they did not listen to me. I even wrote a letter to the police commissioner, but to no avail. When I went to BMC's C ward office, they told me no permission was granted for the construction of this chowkie."

"The chowkie is almost complete now, and my shop is not visible to customers. I appealed to the City Civil court for a stay order on the construction and to demolish this chowki. The judge asked the police to submit a report by November 30 about who granted permission for the chowki," he added.

Police speak

mid-day tried to contact LT Road police station Senior Inspector Deepak Nikam, but he was unavailable for comment. Inspector Vivek Bhosale said, "We submitted an application for the chowkie and the work is completed," but refused to divulge any other information. mid-day also contacted ACP Sameer Shaikh who said he was not aware of the matter.

BMC speak

C ward Assistant Engineer (Maintenance) Pramod Waghmare said, "We did not get any application from the police station to construct a beat chowkie. The shopkeeper contacted us and complained."