Mumbai: BMC to revamp Topiwala vegetable market, but no place yet.

The 25-year old Topiwala vegetable market at Goregaon (west) will be redeveloped by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) into a 16 storey structure. The vegetable vendors are irked by this initiative of the civic body as they have not been officially allotted a specific place to shift if the building comes up.

Currently, the vegetable market consists of 206 vegetable huts in an area of 6 x 6 square feet. The vendors have been told orally by the officials to shift to an adjacent area of 4 x 4 square feet as soon as the construction work begins which is due to commence from mid next year.

A vegetable vendor said, “We have been told to move to a relatively small area which is not sufficient, as we have a high number of customers coming every day. We also need space to store our stock in an appropriate manner in order to prevent it from getting spoiled.”

The BMC issued a notice to the vendors a year back informing about the revamp of the market but the vendors opposed the plan as there wasn’t any specific space allotted to them. An owner of five vegetable shops said, “We will welcome the plan of the civic body only if we get a proper space as big as the current one. The officials assured us in the past that we will get an area of 6 x 6.5 square feet but till date nothing has been given in writing.”

The entire area of the market belongs to the civic body and is known as the Topiwala market. A senior BMC officer told the Free Press Journal, “The tenders for this construction will be decided by December 20, 2016. We have placed the proposal for this construction but nothing has been decided about the place for the vegetable vendors. We will decide that once the tenders are appointed however, construction work is expected to start by next year.”

The 16 storey structure will house an 867 seater drama theatre from the fourth to the sixth floor. The theatre will include an 18.60 metre long and 10.10 metre wide stage along with orchestra sound system. A library, yoga centre and gymnasium will also be constructed in the building along with 10 elevators and a parking space for 200 cars. The entire project will cost Rs 109 crores and will take around 42 months for its completion.

This will be the seventh drama auditorium in addition to the existing six BMC theatres at Girgaum Chowpatty, Vile Parle, Borivali, Sewri, Malad and Mulund.

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