Vendors complain after police crack down on stalls on Monday, Tuesday. After mid-day intervenes, police chief issues orders to force to leave newspaper vendors alone
The crackdown was uncalled for, said newspaper sellers
There are no restrictions on the sale of newspapers across the city, said the Mumbai police chief amid complaints by vendors of a crackdown in the garb of enforcing the mini-lockdown. The cops have now been directed not to harass the vendors after this newspaper took up their plight with the police commissioner.
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Sellers of newspapers, the most reliable source of news, said they were facing major inconvenience following the imposition of the ‘Break the Chain’ norms in the city to check the spread of COVID-19. The working president of Brihanmumbai Vruttapatra Vikreta Sangh, Sanjay Chaukekar, told mid-day that cops forced newspaper stalls to shut down at Kandivli East. “A vendor called me at 11am on Tuesday and said the policemen were forcing him to shut down his newspaper stand. The cops refused to listen to anyone, so I told the vendor to shut it down because it was not wise move to oppose cops at the time,” Chaukekar said. “The cops must know that newspaper sale has not been banned by the government. There is no crowding at newspaper stands. The buyers come to our stand, pay, take the paper and leave. We come under essential services and cops should know this,” he added.
The working president of Mulund Dadar Brihanmumbai Vruttapatra Vikreta Sangh, Jayant Daphale, cited similar incidents at Bhandup, Vikhroli, Mulund East, Kishan Nagar and other locations.
“The cops started to forcibly shut the stalls at 6.30 am on Tuesday here. On Wednesday, too, they came at 9 am and started having unnecessary arguments with vendors. The government has kept us under essential services, so why this crackdown? Our vendors have been strictly following all COVID rules. Come what may, I am not shutting it down,” Daphale said.
Vice-president (distribution & sales), Mid-day Infomedia Limited, Pratik Nanavati said, “We are facing a lot of difficulties from the cops who are unwilling to listen to us. The cops told our teams in the morning that they would not allow them to put up stalls as a mini-lockdown is in force.”
“The cops have told us that more than five people gather at the newspaper stalls. But, it was not the case. Since they [vendors] belong to an unorganised sector, they did not argue with the police and preferred to shut down stalls. This caused a sizable return of copies because the stalls remained inoperative. This high-handedness of the police started on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, too,” said Nanavati. The police crackdown was seen in Kandivli, Charkop, Borivli, Goregaon and Bandra. This has affected our circulation by 15-20 per cent,” Nanavati said.
mid-day raised the vendors’ concerns with Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale who then asked Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Chaitanya S to immediately issue instructions to the force. “No circular bans the print and sale of newspapers. We have issued instructions to police personnel not to close newspapers stalls as, ‘accredited media’ is exempted under paragraph 1 (e) of Break the Chain notification,” said Chaitanya, who is also Mumbai police spokesperson.
The president of Mumbai Thane Vruttapatra Vikreta Ekikaran Samiti, Ajit Patil, said vendors in Thane and Navi Mumbai also faced difficulties.
“The cops are scaring us away saying that they will book us in a case for violating COVID rules. We are facing this issue in Vikhroli, Dadar, Lower Parel, CSMT, Navi Mumbai and Thane. I would like to request all police commissioners to issue instructions to their men to not misuse their powers,” Patil said.
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