Shivaji Market set to be demolished a year after it was renovated
Mumbai : In yet another example of mismanagement in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s affairs, more than a year after the civic body spent Rs 3 crore on renovation and repair work of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Market, it is set to spend another sum of Rs 3 crore to demolish the building. Moreover, as soon as the renovation work was completed last year, a part of the roof of the market building collapsed, claiming the life of a stall owner.
Pravin Chheda, Congress corporator, said, “This is sheer wastage of the people’s money. Didn’t the BMC realise while giving the contract for renovation last year that the building is too dilapidated and needs demolition? Now a year later, they are spending an equal amount to tear down the building.”
When the roof of the building collapsed, soon after the renovation was complete, Chheda had written to Sitaram Kunte who was then municipal commissioner, asking for details of the repair work. Chheda said, “I had received a generic reply from him, without any details about what kind of work was undertaken in the building.”
According to a proposal passed by the BMC standing committee on Friday, four floors of the market will be demolished as the building has been categorised as dilapidated and uninhabitable. The basement and the ground floor, which form the foundation of the building, will remain untouched. The BMC reached a consensus with the fishermen who have stalls in this market building and they will now be temporarily moved to Crawford Market until the building is re-constructed.
Eeshanpriya M S
