Thaindian News

Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) A third bomb blast in two decades at Zaveri Bazar - Mumbai’s most popular address for gems and jewellery - has left its merchants concerned about business. But they are staying put. For many, in fact, Thursday was business as usual.

“What is the point of shifting base? Are other business locations safer,” asked Raju Solanki, a gold jeweller whose 60-year-old shop is barely 200 metres from the blast site.

The south Mumbai jewellery market Wednesday evening came under a terror attack for the third time in 18 years. It was one of the three serial blasts Wednesday evening to rock the city - the others having occurred in Dadar and in the Opera House area, killing at least 17 and injuring 131.

Several merchants were worried that business would be hit owing to the temporary closing down of more than 10,000 shops, including tiny diamond polishing units, post blast.

“My shop is hardly half-a-minute away from the spot of the blast and now I will have to keep it closed as the entire lane has been cordoned off,” Mohanlal Seth told IANS in the morning.

“Friends and relative are pressurising me to shift my business elsewhere. But it is not easy. There is no assurance of safety elsewhere either,” he added.

The congested Zaveri Bazar has around 50,000 small and big shops and small diamond polishing units, including a bullion market, in its narrow, labyrinthine lanes spread across 10 km. Some also sell clothes and household items. It is frequented by hundreds of thousands of people.

Security was beefed up Thursday. The affected area was cordoned off by police, and a team of forensic experts were at work at the blast site.

Ramesh Shetty, the owner of a travel agency close to the blast site, told IANS: “We had closed our shop at 6 p.m. yesterday. So we weren’t here when the blast happened. The few shops that are not open are expected to open tomorrow.”

At many shops, it was business as usual and customers came too.

Priya Rao, a middle-aged woman, picked a sari off the racks at a tiny shop and said, “I was initially apprehensive to step out, but the shops are open, people are moving around…the city hasn’t come to any standstill.

“So I thought why should I stay behind! And I am pleasantly surprised to see that work as usual here,” she said.

Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazar was first targeted March 12, 1993, when 13 serial blasts across the city killed 257 people and injured over 700 others.

The second strike was on Aug 25, 2003 when twin blasts - one at the Gateway of India and the other at Zaveri Bazar - killed 54 people and injured another 244.

Kumar Jain, vice president of the Mumbai Jewellers’ Association, expressed concern over the loss in the business that might follow after the third blast.

“If attacks like these continue, skilled labour will move back to their own regions and Mumbai’s economy will take a hit,” he said.

“But it is equally worrisome for those who have had their businesses here for many decades. For them, it is practically impossible to shift base.”

Agreed Pradeep Solanki, another jeweller, said time and again they had appealed to police and the state government to address their concerns over haphazard parking and illegal hawking in the area, but these have fallen on deaf ears.

“People park in front of our shops in double lines. It becomes all the more congested. After the 1993 blast, this was taken care of, but now it is back to square one,” Solanki said.

“But this is not a permanent solution. There has to be a long term solution,” he added.

-Indo-Asian News Service
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