Mumbai: With their pleas to shift the wholesale fish market from Senapati Bapat Marg falling on deaf ears, nearly 350 families residing in the Swarajya Cooperative Housing Society (CHS) in Dadar on Monday wrote to the municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. The closure of the Elphinstone bridge on September 12 had worsened the traffic situation in the area, posing hurdles in the daily activities of locals, the housing society said in the letter, and warned they would file a public interest litigation if no action was taken in 15 days.
“Every morning, when we go to drop our children to school, a two-minute journey takes 15 minutes,” said Dashrath Dongre, a Swarajya CHS resident. “The fish vendors have their vans parked on the road and sit next to them, selling their goods. That leaves only one lane for vehicles and no space for pedestrians, making it nearly impossible for us to traverse our way around.”
The residents’ opposition to the wholesale fish market, which has around 36 licenced fish vendors, dates back to 2021. That was when they first demanded relocation of the market, citing problems with traffic, hygiene, and waste disposal.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in response, demolished the shed next to the Dadar flower market, under which the fish vendors conducted their business, and barricaded the area. The vendors, in turn, approached the Bombay High Court for relief.
Subsequently, the BMC offered them permanent relocation to the under construction Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market in south Mumbai. Till the new market was ready, the BMC and the high court permitted the vendors to continue selling their wares on a small patch of Senapati Bapat Marg, near the shed where they earlier conducted business.
“The court allowed the fish vendors to use only a small patch of the road under strict conditions, only between 7am and 9am,” said Chetan Kamble, another Swarajya CHS resident and founder of the civic group, Chakachak Dadar. “But the fish vendors do not follow suit. They start piling in from 4am, occupy large tracts of the road, and stay on till 10am or even noon. When they leave, the place is in a mess.”
After the Elphinstone bridge was closed to traffic, the barricades around the now-demolished shed which earlier hosted the fish market were removed. This, along with the increased traffic on Senapati Bapat Marg due to closure of the bridge, alarmed residents. Things would go back to how they were earlier, they feared.
“We wrote to the assistant commissioner of G North ward, the deputy municipal commissioner and officials in the (BMC’s) market department regarding our concerns,” said Kamble. “We also met several officers, but did not get any relief.”
The housing society even wrote to the local MLA and the MP, Mahesh Sawant and Anil Desai, respectively, suggesting an alternative location for the fish market in Wadala, residents said. Since they did not receive any favourable response, on Monday, they wrote to Gagrani, warning that if the market was not shifted in 15 days, they would file a PIL.
Fish vendors who ply their trade in the market said they make it a point to leave the area by 10am. They too were helpless, they said, as the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market where they are supposed to be relocated has not received the necessary clearances for them to move in permanently.
“The BMC had told the high court that we would be shifted to the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule market by 2022. But it hasn’t done so yet,” said Kanchan Rukmini, one of the fish vendors.
The alternative location for the fish market in Wadala, suggested by the Swarajya CHS residents, was not feasible, the vendors said. If the plot was forced on them, they would move the high court again, they added.
An official from the BMC’s market department said no decision had been taken yet regarding shifting the licenced vendors to Wadala.