Popularly known among youngsters as a shopper's paradise, Hill Road in Bandra was earlier a quiet road with small gaothans in perpendicular bylanes.
Popularly known among youngsters as a shopper's paradise, Hill Road in Bandra was earlier a quiet road with small gaothans in perpendicular bylanes.
Hill Road is an over 150-year-old road and used to be divided into settlements of different gaothans. It started from St Andrews and later started spreading up the hill, due to which it was termed Hill Road.
Local architect David Cardoz, who was earlier part of BMC's heritage committee, said, "It was always a mud road. There used to be a bullock cart with a water tank that used to travel on the road making the soil wet to avoid the dust from rising up. There was a small pyau for animals to quench their thirst near St Andrew Church."
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Speaking about the shops which started popping up along the road, Cardoz said, "In the 1800's, there was a regulation that stated that cobblers could sit anywhere on the road because walking on the mud road caused the residents who walked there to break their footwear often. The fancy shoe shops now seen on the road are mostly registered under the same regulation passed for those cobblers then. There fore we see so many shoe stalls on Hill Road."
Hakim Mister, member of (Ramdas Naik) Hill Road Residents and Shopkeepers Association, said, "We have been talking to the civic authorities and police officers regarding the security issues at Hill Road for a decade. Increase in number of illegal hawkers causes a big mess as they try to eve tease and involve themselves in other antisocial activities. There is lack of security as well as there are only a few CCTV cameras. The association has been following up on security issues with the authorities, but every time a new officials takes up a position, we again start facing issues."
Speaking about the security concerns, Cardoz added, "At Hill Road, there should be an control on illegal hawkers and we need to try our best to keep the market secure."
Also read: Shopper's paradise an easy target of terror?
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