The Evil

14th Feb 2002, 8 o'clock in the evening, a few local residents walked up to an illegal stall owner(who had set up shop a couple of days ago) and asked him to leave the area. This opened up the mythical Pandora's box!

Our locality is principally residential. There is a telephone exchange nearby, and a bank within the premises of a residential apartment. Still, it is an undeniable fact that people LIVE here!

Yet, over the last few years we could observe a pattern of "invasion" by unauthorised structures. One of the older ones( the owners of which claims that its legal) has probably changed "ownership" during recent years. Or may be not. However, the behaviour of the stall-hands became increasingly arrogant and downright abusive towards local people, as if they were drawing sustenance from a higher, more arrogant authority. Narrow bylanes overflowed to the brim with construction goods. Residents trying to get in or out, on foot or on cars during busy mornings or weary evenings were regularly harassed. Indignant protests, feeble because they were isolated, were met with abuses and threats - "This is how it will be, if you dont like it, you may well leave the area." !!!

Consider this - The Civic Administration, as far as we know has laws against dumping of construction material on thoroughfares. Yet, residents who pay their civic taxes have long been abused and harassed by people who flagrantly violate those very laws. As if citizens who are law abiding must surrender their dignity and minimum convenience to the superior "muscles" of unlawfulness, and nobody has the responsibility to protect them!

The Invasion - Apart from construction goods, tea stalls, roll counters, betel shops, two wheeler garages, butcher's shop(which thankfully was successfully resisted by residents in an earlier period) the other disturbing development was setting up of a stall that sold petrol - openly on the streets. This was dangerous!

In a densely inhabited area, where 15 or more trucks remained parked at all times of the day, some always rolling in with some moving out, where apartment blocks stand shoulder to shoulder, where the only source of water for firemen is a pond thickly clogged with water hyacinth - a misplaced spark could have been catastrophic.

To this was added the spectre of drugs. In subsequent days, Committee members were able to apprehend shady individuals with ganja in their possession. However, that is another story...

Pandora's box(Greek mythology) - When Prometheus, that demigod, that titan, that lover of human species stole fire from heaven(which Zeus had denied to mankind), Zeus was furious and wished to teach the mortals a lesson. He sent "down" the pretty and talented Pandora, creation of the gods, to...well, turn human heads! Pandora carried with her a box(actually a vase) containing all kinds of evil afflictions that plague us today - greed, lust, envy, etc etc. This box was opened by mistake and all that evilness escaped to earth(and look what we are trying to do - nuke each other, trash the Kyoto protocol, or park trucks in peoples' bedrooms!). Only HOPE remained at the bottom of Pandora's box, to be used by anyone who cares for it. Well, we at Jadavpur Greens sure do care for hope.

Read on > Garbage, heaps of it!
Read back < Trucks!

© Parivesh Suraksha Committee