BMC polls: Sena reiterate promise to build ‘Dabbewala Bhavan’ in Bandra

“We had promised to set up ‘Dabbewala Bhavan’ to honour Mumbai’s popular dabbawalas, who deliver lakhs of tiffins daily in the city. Following this, we have taken a positive step and land has been made available in Bandra for construction of the Bhavan,” said Jadhav.

In the budget estimate of 2021-22, Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal had made a provision of Rs 1 crore for the construction of the Bhavan. However, in the revised estimate of the 2021-22 budget, the provision was cancelled since the civic administration had said that there is no space available.

Now, after Sena came forward to push the project and identified the land, the budget estimate of 2022-22 that was presented on February 3 has allocated Rs 1 crore for the project.

Known for their outstanding management skill for delivering home-cooked meals to about two lakh employees in the city every day, the dabbawalas have garnered worldwide praise. The tradition of dabbawalas has been in existence since 1870.
The proposal was first moved by Shiv Sena corporator Kishori Pednekar in March 2019, who is now the mayor.
Pednekar’s notice of motion of setting up a Dabbawala Bhavan in Mumbai was approved in a general body meeting by the then Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar.

The civic body while turning her proposal down had said that currently, no land is available with the Estate Department and the Development Plan (DP) 2034 does not have any reservation marked for the ‘Dabbewala Bhavan’.