NAVI MUMBAI: Five years ago, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) constructed a market site at Kalamboli’s Sector 2 to free footpaths of encroachment by hawkers. However, the market has not yet been open.
As there is no other proper market in the town, hawkers are still illegally occupying footpaths, leaving no space for the pedestrians.
“Illegal encroachments of the footpath by hawkers at Kalamboli has been an old issue. The town planning agency constructed the market for local traders in 2009 expecting that it will help empty footpaths. However, they have shown no sign of opening it in the last five years,” said Ratheen Gangurde, a resident of Kalamboli.
“The building has the capacity of accommodating more than 100 traders. Had it been opened for the public, a large number of locals would have got a chance to start their own business,” he said.
Mahesh Shinde, a resident, said there was no other hawkers’ zone in Kalamboli.
“The residents had been requesting Cidco to provide such a premise in this area. Cidco answered our prayers by constructing the building, but it has served no purpose as it is not opened to the public till now,” said Shinde.
“The location of the premises, however, is not that suitable for the traders,” says Pravin Kamble, a trader from the area, “It has been constructed at a corner of the node and the residents are not willing to go there for shopping. If we move there, we will lose the few customers we usually get on the footpath.”
Cidco, however, negates all such opinions offered by the traders.
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