Crawford Market restoration inches ahead, 168 shops set to move out in first phase

Apart from structural changes, the restoration work will include installation of fire safety equipments besides improving the aesthetics of the 147-year-old Grade-I heritage building.

3 min readMumbaiNov 30, 2015 04:57 AM IST First published on: Nov 30, 2015 at 03:43 AM IST

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Crawford Market is limping back to normalcy after the devastating fire last month. Ganesh Shirsekar

More than a month after a fire in Crawford Market gutted more than 60 shops, the first phase of the three-year restoration project is set to begin with the first batch of 168 shops set to shift out of the building in the coming weeks. Apart from structural changes, the restoration work will include installation of fire safety equipments besides improving the aesthetics of the 147-year-old Grade-I heritage building.

After much deliberation, vendors and civic officials have agreed to set up temporary shops in the courtyard of the market building. While 100 identical temporary spaces have been created outside, it will be three weeks before the vendors can shift their wares to these stalls.

“The electrical wiring and connections have to be installed and will need some time. After that, the vendors can move to the temporary shops,” said Sanjay Kurhade, assistant municipal commissioner (markets).

Each phase will take about six months for the restoration work to be completed after which the vendors of the first phase can move back into their shops and the next set of vendors will move to the temporary set-up.

Kurhade also added that vendors who have multiple shops in the market will have to accommodate their wares in one temporary space. Some shopkeepers are apprehensive about the losses they will incur owing to the small area of the temporary space.

MD Taqdish, the owner of a shop selling dry fruits, had suffered losses worth Rs 50,000 in the fire that broke out on October 25. “I have already suffered losses in the fire. I can’t put on display various types of dry fruits in the space outside which is very small in comparison to my shop in the market and I will have more losses to deal with,” he said.

However, others like Vasant Phalke, a fruit supplier, are willing to compromise with the limitations. “We won’t get the kind of space outside as we currently have in the market and I will lose out on customers. But it is for six months and then I wouldn’t have to worry about the building for another 50 years at least,” he said. Phalke’s store was completely gutted in the fire and he incurred losses in lakhs.

Conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, who is working with the BMC on the heritage structure’s upgradation, stated that there are several aesthetic changes that will be implemented as well.

“We have to repair the roof, upgrade the electrical systems and ensure that fire-resistant materials are used. The structures of the shops will be made of steel and fire-fighting systems will be put in place. We will also make a uniform signage system that will improve the visual aesthetics of the market,” said Lambah.

In response to the shopkeepers’ anxiety, Lambah said, “The BMC has no intention of displacing shopkeepers. After the work is complete, they will get the original area and location of their shop.”