Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation(AMC) team today completely removed the stalls and related constructions in Law Garden food street in Ellis bridge area of city.

Law Garden food street is located next to Law Garden, one of the major gardens created by AMC in Law college area. It has number of food stalls located on footpaths on both sides of road. While on its one side is the wall of Law Garden, the other side has equally long wall of NCC ground. The food stalls located on footpaths offer ice cream, pizza, bhaji panv, sandwiches and other fast food items. The food street remain open even beyond midnight. People park vehicles on road surface, as footpaths on both sides are occupied by food stalls, chairs and tables.

Following the Gujarat High Court order, the food street here has attracted anti-encroachment drive even in the past too but food stalls popped up again. People in general believe that even today’s anti-enchrochhment drive will prove temporary and food stalls will pop up again like in the past because the business here is lucrative. No bill, no GST, no rental, no AC and huge number of customers every evening make it a perfect business place for vendors. There are many vendors who have opened their restaurants and shops elsewhere after starting business in Law Garden food street. They however don’t close the original roadside outlet in Law Garden food street because business is very big here.

The AMC team bulldozed kachcha structures of food stalls throughout the day erected on footpaths using bamboo sticks as pillar and plastic sheet(tadpatri) as roof. Food stalls were also taken away in open trucks.

Late in the evening, dozens of people were seen coming to witness the new look of Law Garden street. There was complete dark inside the street. On both sides were pieces of demolished bamboo-plastic shades. People were not allowed to enter the street. Police was deployed on both ends of street. Police gypsy vehicles with twinkling lights atop were parked to make feel their presence.Those working in food stalls had gathered outside the main end of street. They were seating idle and silent. Even Chiti Bank area for children and Happiness parlor of Vadilal located behind Thakorbhai Desai hall was shut.

Outside the food street, the handicraft market on footpath was functioning normally but with number of signboards that vehicles must not be parked on road. The opposite side of the road – outside the wall of Law college – was without presence of even a single hawker today. Goat ride, horse ride etc were absent.

Unlike Vadodara and Surat, the city of Ahmedabad has no organized evening/night food park. There’s a new one at Riverfront in Paldi area, just outside the flower park, but the number of food stalls are very limited there. AMC has in recent times, forced closure of food stalls in AG Teachers/CEPT street in Navrangpura and IIMA road in Vastrapur as they were highly disturbing the traffic.

The major evening/midnight open street food joints left are Manekchawk in wall city and 26 stalls rented by AMC on service road of SG highway. A new night food market has emerged opposite Karnavati Club too on SG highway.

AMC’s anti-encroachment drive is largely welcomed by citizens, but many social media posts and reactions to them suggest that Law Garden will be missed. But that was happening anyway as the AMC in its last budget proposed to build an underpass connecting Nehru bridge and Nagri hospital through Gandhigram railway station. Nagri hospital side end of proposed underpass will meet Law garden food street. In this case food street had to go if not today then tomorrow.

DeshGujarat