West Bengal: The Goons of Local Market

This is a real life incident where common people are harassed daily even to earn their livelihood. This is a story of a local market located at West Bengal, an eastern state of India.

I have personally visited the local festivals and fairs many times. I saw how people are struggling to sell their goods so that they can earn for their children. Little did I know that how much they have to suffer for earning and contributing for their families.

Sathi, a 40 years old lady, working so hard to earn herself bread and butter, to contribute to the studies of her two girl children. Lokesh who is an elderly figure even to Sathi has been doing his Vendor job at local markets and fairs to earn some bucks to maintain his family containing three children. There are many people who are like Sathi and Lokesh, who are independently earning money to live with self-esteem.

But few people are eating their hard-earned money only by seating on a chair. The political system is so disgraceful in this state that any local goon can come up to them and ask for any amount of money; they can charge them any amount of sum they want. The local vendor market has no regulation in the state, which allows anyone to start their own vendor shop.

But scams and hooliganism can happen at anytime where there is no regulation at the place. The goons charging money are politically motivated and no one can do anything against them. If you with valor keeps your head up, then sadly, my friend, your head will not see the sun rise tomorrow. This is just a way of saying. I am not saying the immediate result is apex violence, but also not denying it.

Nonetheless, when Sathi wanted to rise against them, they made her shut up by saying that she shouldn't be allowed to keep her vendor shop at the local market. They even charged ₹500 to stand with her light board to sell light bulb. Make no mistake, ₹500 is a big amount for her. Just to take the electricity connection, they charged her that amount.

Now, the main issue is there is no official regulation regarding these local vendors. Even if there is one, the goons will not make them applicable in real life on the streets. Contacting police has no result at all. They cannot do anything against the members of current government. The state government itself cannot do anything as the goons will snatch their support from the government and join the opposite forces which will lead to the fall of the present government.

So it's always the common people who suffer...............

The local goons treat themselves as some King or emperor. When Sathi objects to such high charges, she was asked to leave. Because they know they will be charging another poor vendor. What I can say is that the governments will be changed, people will be changed, but the condition of these poor vendors will not change.

While I am so much optimistic about advancement in technology and healthcare sector which will make people's lives easy, on the other hand when it comes to these aspects, I ponder whether I am right or wrong. These goons also creates fear among people by adjudicating police and administration, so eventually a common person remains under intimidation.

But I believe in KARMA. I still think that the time will change and if it doesn't then the people appreciating the hooliganism will be under ruin.

Thank you for reading this.

See you in the next post.

Lead me from the unreal to the real

Lead me from the darkness to the light

Lead me from death to the immortality

Narayani Namastute