After residents filed a petition against the BMC over the hawker menace at the fair, the Bombay high court on September 1 had directed the civic body to restrict the number of stalls to 165.
Stalls at this year’s Bandra Fair were sold at a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) auction on Friday for over Rs1-3 lakh per stall. The most expensive one was sold for Rs3,51,000.
After residents filed a petition against the BMC over the hawker menace at the fair, the Bombay high court on September 1 had directed the civic body to restrict the number of stalls to 165. This led to stiff competition among bidders, pushing up the rates at which the stalls were auctioned.
Spending lakhs, however, is not an option for locals, most of whom take loans to put up stalls. A group of stall owners gathered at the BMC’s Bandra ward office on Friday to make a request before the ward officer.
The civic body, however, maintained that it would have to follow the court’s directives.
The auction, which was to be conducted two days back, was postponed on the request of the stall owners. “We wanted to try and appeal to the residents who had filed the complaint,” said Remy Fernandes, a human rights observer. “We also wanted to appeal to the BMC. However, nothing worked out.”
“The court order is wrong,” said local Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Tushar Aphale, who accompanied the stall owners. “The fair is conducted by the church and not the BMC. The ‘hawkers’ are actually local residents, and they should not be disallowed from putting up stalls.”
The residents, who have established stalls, fear that they would be broken down by the BMC. Noreen Noronha, 66, who handles a candle stall started by her father over 60 years back, said, “We have been told not to put up our stalls, or else they will be broken down.”
“The money we make during the fair helps us buy our food for the year,” said Pushpa Lawrence, 52, who runs a stall selling religious items.”
Then there is Maria Joseph, 50, who sells religious items and food. A third-generation stall owner, Joseph lives in Bandra, but the stall becomes her home during the fair.
The stall owners said that their presence at the fair was justified.“There are lakhs of pilgrims visiting the fair every year,” they said. “We are the ones who give them food, water and offerings. Who will do that now?”
Though the BMC has said it would demolish unauthorised stalls, most owners have no choice. “If they don’t put up their stalls now, they will never be able to put them up,” said Aphale.
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