War widow fights BMC to save her stall from demolition

MUMBAI, OCT 4: For 75-year-old Lajwanti K. Matani, widow of Kisan Matani, difficult times loomed when her husband, a naik in the Indian Ar...

MUMBAI, OCT 4: For 75-year-old Lajwanti K. Matani, widow of Kisan Matani, difficult times loomed when her husband, a naik in the Indian Army, was seriously wounded during the Indo-Pak war and thereafter declared medically unfit. Deliverance arrived in 1976 with a Jai Jawan stall’, a licensed stall granted to her husband for his service to the nation.

Now, her only source of income flounders on the BMC’s plan of hawking and non-hawking zones. Armed with a petition filed recently in the High Court she readies to do battle of a different nature – this time against the civic body.

The issue of hawking and non-hawking zones meant little to her till the corporation issued a notice last week stating that she would be alloted a 1m by 1m pitch in a hawking area, that too only if she was lucky enough to get picked in the draw of lots to be held in the local Ward Office.

“The BMCs order was a shock. How can they put our case in the general category with other hawkerrs,” questions Deepak Matani, her son who has been running from pillar to post to get the Jai Jawan stalls exempted from this hawking/non-hawking business.

“The BMC has exempted Aarey, MAFCO, cobblers stalls and PCO booths from this scheme. So why should the Jai Jawan stalls be touched?” he questions. Motwani was alloted this stall in April 1976 by the BMC on recommendations by the District Sainik board for disabled war heroes and widows of 1971 Indo-Pak war. About 50 such Jai Jawan’ stalls and kiosks have been allocated to sepoys, naiks, airmen, hawaldars all of whom were either disabled in the war or are ex-army men. Most of them, like Eknath Shedge are disabled ex-army personnel, handicapped in the Chinese aggression or rendered invalid in the Indo-Pak war. “I run a Jai Jawan pan-beedi shop at N M Joshi Marg which is my only source of income,” says Shedge who was allocated the stall in 1968.

With their stalls next in line with the other licensed stalls for demolition, its a war of a different kind for these men as they battle it out with civic authorities who are not all ears to their problems. The only succour is from Indian Ex-Services League, a non-government organisation which looks after the welfare of retired army men, disabled soldiers and war widows. The League filed a petition in the High Court on September 21 praying that the Jai Jawan stalls be exempted like the Aarey, MAFCO, PCO booths and cobblers stalls.

However, till the court decides on the matter it is going to be tough ride for the 50-odd Jai Jawan stall owners as they plead their case with themunicipal commissioner, chief ministers and other top brass. Meanwhile, BMC officials have termed this as a case of waking up late’. “The High Court has ordered the BMC to file an affidavit on August 1 concerning hawking/non-hawking zones. We had requests from officials from Aarey, MAFCO, owners of PCOs, cobblers to leave their kiosks and stalls untouched in this scheme, which we have done. If the armymen had contacted us then, their applications would have been considered,” says a civic official stating that now it is too late for the BMC to act on this as the decision now rests with the court.