Roadside food, people’s choice, a report by MassCoMedia student

Gunjan Anand, Trainee Reporter, MassCoMedia

GHAZIABAD: Sometimes the demands and choices of people go beyond the legal boundaries. The same has helped the street food corner and small Dhaba owners at Hapur road in Ghaziabad. A small belt of street food shops of approximately a kilometer long is situated there for last 30-40 years but considered as illegal by the Police as the shops are unregistered and the owners also doesn’t possess any legal license to run the shops.

In the past, the shops also have got uprooted many times by the Police but later on the owners somehow managed and made themselves established again and again at the ground zero. When asked about the reason, why the cops get fails every time to make this illegal business shutdown?   Constable, Brijesh Kumar said, "There is definitely lack of strict steps taken by police as well as corruption being the primary causes of their failure." On the contrary, Dhaba owners say that they are not doing anything illegal. Customers come to their shops in large number and they have good business all day long since long time. "Police harass us just to make money from us, as our business is going in flow", said a Dhaba owner, Satpal Singh.

Though the fight is on and both the parties are blaming each other but the customers have no concern with this. The small food hub is liked by everybody from a student to truck drivers and they just enjoy the tasty food out there every day. "We get food at reasonable rates almost 24 hours and also the Hapur road gets safer, especially at night." said by a customer, Rahul. "May be its illegal but still its good" he added.