Illegal stalls selling diverse items, from slippers to sandwiches, have mushroomed around Saifee Masjid and iconic white domed Dargah; throwing traffic out of gear.

 

Despite frequent requests by the people there, neither the stalls nor the, vehicles parked on both the sides of these 18-20 feet narrow streets showed any interest to move away.

 

A few days back, the intervention of people prevented the situation from turning into ugly when a motorcyclist indulged in brawl with a cabbie when he unsuccessfully tried to overtake the two-wheeler and crashed that toppled the bike.

 

The incidents similar to this visit the area quite frequently. And every time the sanity prevails due to mediation of rational lots there. This entire fracas raises its ugly head, time and again, due to illegal occupation of the street. What would happen when even mediation fail to calm down the bruised ego of altercating motorists?

 

Besides this, the imposing dargah has erected a substantially long canopy that is proving to be hindrance to tempos and small trucks that frequently whiz across the street, supplying commodities to the shops there. “Despite our complaint to the BMC and traffic department no action has been initiated against the violators,” rued Tugral M Kazi, a businessman who owns his shop in the vicinity.

 

Last year the entire area was gripped with tension and wore deserted look when a boy was grievously injured by a speeding bike. Thanks to the timely arrival of the police, the situation was brought under control.

 

During Urs (observing death anniversary), the heavy rush of pilgrims make the situation even worse. The situation could improve by observing few simple rules of traffic. This would stem the rising incidents of road rage and make our life easier.