Mumbai: The BMC has re-tendered the work to carry out structural repairs to Hawkers plaza at Dadar West. The earlier work included repair of common toilets, painting, strengthening of beams. They have now included work on water proofing at a total estimated cost of Rs.9 crore. The five-storey building was constructed in 2001, to relocate the hawkers operating in the non-hawking area of Dadar. However, it failed to serve the purpose.
Dadar station, which connects the Western and Central lines and is surrounded by vegetable and flower markets, witnesses lakhs of footfall every day. In an effort to organise street vending at Dadar, the BMC spent Rs 30 crores and constructed the hawkers' plaza 22 years back. However, hawkers refused to move into it since they believed that the customers wouldn't turn up in the building which was out of their way. Currently, there are a cloth market on the ground and first floor and wholesalers of onion, potatoes and vegetables. While some of the shops are still vacant, the BMC has shifted some of its departments to the upper three floors.
Last year, the BMC invited a tender for structural repairs of the building but had to stop the process since they had to include some other important work such as water proofing to avoid leakages, said the civic sources. A civic official of BMC's market department said that when the hawkers refused to come they gave the galas to the people who approached them. "There are 895 galas, around 237 stalls on the ground floor and 303 stalls on the first floor are occupied and we have also received fresh application from the hawkers for the galas,"claimed the civic official.
