Shopkeepers face a grim reality

MUMBAI: A day after a raging blaze gutted Link Square shopping complex in Bandra, shopkeepers who both rented and owned the 220 stores in the building milled around the ruins, coming to terms with their loss. They were busy filling out panchnama forms handed to them by the police, to record the goods they had lost in the blaze, and to distinguish tenants from the shop owners.

“Shop owners and restaurants will have insurance, so they can recover their losses. But what about other shops? Who will compensate us,” said Shoaib Khan, who rented a store in the complex.

The shopkeepers said the shops stored goods whose value ranged from ₹ ₹lakh to ₹5 crore each. “In April, everyone stocks up because footfalls increase in May. Just two weeks ago, I received fresh stocks imported from China. It was quality merchandise and now I have lost all of it,” said Virendra Pise, who operated an accessories store from a rented space.

“We were told we could go inside to take a stock of the situation at 9am, but the fire-fighting operations were still taking place until evening. We know everything is burnt. There was also plenty of cash inside. Civic officials said there is still water in the basement. We hope to check in on Thursday morning,” said Taukir Khan, another shopkeeper.

As they watched the building burn on Wednesday, the staff was in utter despair, saying they thought Link Square, owned by former MLA Zeeshan Siddique, was one of the safest shopping complexes on the street. Said Vijay Rathod, an employee at one of the stores, who was also a caretaker of sorts at the complex, “It was my job to turn off the lights and switches before shutting down. The gates of the complex opened at 10am, only then everyone was allowed to set up. It closed exactly at 9:30pm. The escalators were also turned off. Everything was well managed,” he said, in disbelief.

Heena Shaikh, who had opened a salon in the complex just two months ago, was in tears. “I had taken a loan of ₹40 lakh to start my salon. All the equipment was new. I had just started getting footfalls. My three daughters are dependent on my business. One of them recently lost her job and started helping me at the salon. We have been waiting here all day for Zeeshan bhai to talk to us and help us. Where else can we go?”