Mumbai, July 13
A year after three bombs went off — in which 11 persons lost their lives — in Mumbai, it is business as usual at the Zaveri Bazaar-Opera House area.

The streets around what is still India’s biggest gem and jewellery hub continue to be choked with haphazard parking.

Small-time diamond merchants who cannot afford an office in the country’s priciest district still trade rough stones at street corners.

Only the bustling “khau galli” where their merchants and their employees used to rub shoulders with couriers and labourers is missing.

"We have strict instructions not to allow hawkers to put up stalls here," says Inspector Pandurang Mohite on patrol duty here.

Several bylanes are now no-parking zones after security experts warned that explosive devices planted in vehicles could bring down buildings housing gem and jewellery units.

The diamond merchants and the police together have also installed nearly 200 closed circuit television cameras.

Diamond merchants, who were preparing to relocate to the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB)at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in the suburbs, are still staying put hoping that improved security measures would prevent another bomb blast here.

The Mumbai Jewellers Association which is headquartered at the Panchratna building here is demanding further security measures including enhanced patrolling.

Many of its members who were even planning to sell their premises in downtown Mumbai ahead of the move to the suburbs are staying put. However, the buzz is that as many as 400 diamond units will move to the BDB by Diwali.

"Only some of the biggest diamond units have moved to BKC while the medium-sized units are in the process of moving. But the small guys are staying put," says Amit Jain, a jeweller.

Apart from the high rentals at the BKC, several jewellers from old families residing in the vicinity of Panchratna are wary about the long commute to reach the new venue.