Saturday night shopping bazaars for Mumbai?
If the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has its way, the city may soon have a Saturday night market on the lines of Singapore or Hong Kong or even Goa. To boost tourism in the city, the civic body is exploring the possibility of setting up night markets.
BJP corporator Ameet Satam has issued a notice of motion in the civic general body meeting, in which he has demanded night markets across the city. “Mumbai is a city of international standards and visited by large number of domestic and foreign tourists. Shopping is one of the biggest attractions for these tourists, who usually want to buy local products,” said Mr Satam.
He suggested that with an aim to promote tourism, the BMC should set up night markets in various hawking zones across the city by charging necessary fees. “These markets can be held in the jurisdiction of the 16 ward committees by adhering to the Supreme Court’s directives. On the lines of night markets in Singapore and Hong Kong, these markets can be functional from 2 pm on Saturday and will continue till 6 am on Sunday,” said Mr Satam.
However, civic officials maintained that the idea of night markets and festival markets was already on the cards. A senior civic official added that a two-member committee that was studying rehabilitation of hawkers was already exploring this possibility and would suggest measures to make the project feasible. The two-member committee includes Sharit Bhowmik, an expert on hawker rehabilitation issues and a Tata Institute of Social Sciences academician, and Rohit Shinkre, architect and joint principal of Rachna Sansad College of architecture.
“The committee will suggest measures to solve the hawking problem in the city. Several aspects like location, time, season and commodities will be studied to rehabilitate hawkers. Plans to provide space to hawkers in
housing societies, on skywalks and around gardens are also under
consideration,” said the civic official.
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