The 81-year-old Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) market at Bandra Town does not have a functional toilet and water supply since 25 years. The market consists of over 500 vendors including 140 fisherwomen who travel long distances to sell their stock. They told the Free Press Journal that they are forced to spend the entire day at this market without a hygienic toilet facility. The market is divided into separate lanes for fish, mutton, chicken, beef and vegetables with hundreds of customers floating in the market daily from 9 am till 10 at night. Over 500 people including the vendors and customers come under this roof, daily. There are four toilets in the entire market area- two for men and two for women but none of them have access to water supply. Moreover, these toilets are in a dilapidated condition as the doors are broken and have no lights. The market has three BMC taps with the water running from 6 to 9 in the morning. These licensed vendors complain that despite paying rents every month, the market is never cleaned by the workers. The civic body has kept a small room for these workers to be here during the market hours to ensure it is kept clean and get a place to rest. Manju, the leader of the fisherfolk, said, We buy water from the residents who live nearby and we pay Rs 40 per litre or Rs 10 for a bucket as we do not even get drinking water. We also need water to clean the fish for this we usually borrow from other vendors. We have complained several times to the civic authorities but nobody has bothered to even visit this place. Interestingly, the civic officials seemed clueless about the problems. Sharad Ughade, the BMC ward officer, told the Free Press Journal, I am not aware of the toilets being unhygienic or the unavailability of water supply in that market. I do not know the situation of this market though it is our property. I am not aware why there is no water or electricity. Ughade said that he will look into the matter and his officers will resolve the issue. The toilets were constructed during the inception of the market in 1935 and since then belong to the BMC but once they were built they have not been maintained or cleaned. A fisherwoman who comes from Mahim said, We request the neighbouring residents of adjacent chawls to allow us to use their washrooms. We also submitted a petition including signatures of over 150 vendors to the authorities six months back but they don’t seem concerned. The agitated fisherwomen claimed, We don’t want the authorities to be too good to us by constructing a new clean toilet but it would be a great honour if they could just maintain the existing toilet by keeping it clean and hygienic. We have always and will continue to clean our own mess.
Copyright Indian National Press (Bombay) Private Limited 2016.