Mumbai police counts ₹88L loss due to Dalit protests this month
Public and private vehicles suffered damages worth an estimated ~88 lakh during the recent Dalit agitations in Mumbai, on January 2 and 3, reveals a police report.
The report will be submitted to Mumbai’s city and suburban collectors’ offices next week to initiate the process of recovering compensation.
Police sources said 674 vehicles were vandalised during the two-day protests. Of these, 263 were BEST buses and 171 state transport (ST) buses and other large vehicles, including three wireless police vans. Mobs also damaged another 240 private vehicles, which include both two- and four-wheelers. Many vehicles stuck in traffic jams owing to road blocks by protesters were targeted. At least 29 vehicles were damaged in Wadala alone, the sources added.
BEST has pegged the damage to its 263 vehicles at ~20.5 lakh, caused by protesters throwing stones and shattering glass windows, windshields and lights. The damages to the 171 other government vehicles have been
MUMBAI:
estimated at ~10 lakh.
Assessment made by insurance companies puts the damages to 240 private vehicles at ~58 lakh.
Every vehicle damage assessment report has been filed along with police panchnama to prove that miscreants caused the damages during the stir.
The panchnama includes eyewitness accounts and, in some cases, photographs and video footage.
At least 100 miscreants have been booked for hooliganism.
A 2009 Supreme Court ruling says damages caused by rioting and violence during agitations should be collected from the organiser/s of a protest.
“As per the ruling, the onus of paying compensation rests with the organisers of the event,” a police source said. Collectors also have the power to attach the organisers’ properties to compensate for the damages caused.
Mumbai suburban collector Dipendra Singh Kushwaha said his office would appoint a tehsildar for recovery once the police submit the report.
“Compensation will be recovered from the individual or the organiser/s as per procedure. The report will name the organiser/s,” he said.
KOLKATA:Sulabh