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| KNEADING TROUBLE? |
Oct. 20: Sanjeev Bora and his family left Guwahati for Jorhat on Tuesday evening, hoping to travel at their own pace and have a refreshing dinner at one of the many eateries along National Highway 37. On reaching Numaligarh, they discovered something unusual. Not a single dhaba was open.
Wherever they stopped, the answer was the same: “Sorry, we are closed after 9 pm.”
Until 10 days ago, the roadside eateries that dot the highway from Bokakhat onwards would be teeming with people till late in the night. The situation apparently changed drastically after the murder of a crude oil transporter and two of his associates at Dhekial.
After the incident, the Golaghat administration asked dhabas to down shutters before 9 pm. The police suspect that the murdered trio was kidnapped from a dhaba.
The directive was a cruel blow to a burgeoning business with dhabas in Numaligarh, known for their fish delicacies, being affected the most. “My business has touched rock bottom. Tell me, who would like to have dinner before 9 pm?” asked Ramani Hazarika, owner of the famous Numaligarh Dhaba.
In fact, the police have never been kind to the dhaba owners. The roadside eateries have always been suspected of selling liquor without licenses. Their worries have doubled with the police stepping up vigilance. Even customers are not being spared. A few days ago, some customers, including a woman, were roughed up by police personnel for having dinner at a dhaba around 9.30 pm. An officer at Golaghat police station said dhabas were cradles of criminals.
“These are the favourite haunts of car-snatchers. It is easy for them to operate from these eateries,” he said.
The dhabas in Numaligarh are not the only ones who have been asked to close down before 9 pm. “The same order is applicable to all business establishments along NH 39, connecting Assam with Nagaland,” the police officer said.
Mukti Deka of New Numaligarh Dhaba, the only eatery at Numaligarh with a licence to sell liquor, said his business had taken a plunge. “Families from Numaligarh Refinery used to come for snacks or dinner in the evenings until about two weeks ago. We are doomed now,” said Deka, who started the eatery last year with a bank loan.
