Few takers for diamond bourse in BKC as traders stick to Opera House bylanes

However,security concerns that loomed large in the wake of the 7/11 blasts eventually dissipated with only 196 of the total 2,400 offices at the bourse being occupied till date. This vacancy is despite that every single office has been sold to traders who pay a monthly maintenance for its upkeep.

The bourse is a fortress in comparison to Opera House,where small-time traders bundle their diamonds in cloth pouches and carry out transactions worth crores of rupees in the narrow bylanes cluttered with haphazardly parked cars and hawkers. But only 250-odd offices at the BDB are over 1,000 sq ft,a majority are compact 160 sq ft offices for the smaller merchants.

Within weeks of the blasts,the BDB Association had hired former commissioner of Mumbai Police D Sivanandan as their chief security consultant and decided to pump in a whopping Rs 30 crore solely for cutting-edge security arrangements. These included biometric identity cards,thousands of hi-tech digital CCTV cameras,under-vehicle scanners,baggage screeners,movement sensors and intrusion alert systems.

Anoop Mehta,BDB president,said the couple of hundreds who have shifted out of Opera House are mostly big traders who together occupy 35 per cent of the area,while the smaller traders have stayed behind at Opera House. These big players,however,account for two-third of the total trade.

BDB committee member Kaushik Mehta said,“The bourse has been beautifully secured but small operators are hesitant to make the shift. Most of them live in South Mumbai areas such as Napean Sea Road,Prathana Samaj and Walkeshwar. They are habituated to a less than 15 minutes of travel time and it is difficult for them to shake off this inertia.”

He added that in the 70s — when the trade shifted from the erstwhile locations of Bhuleshwar,Zaveri Bazaar and Pydhonie to the three buildings of Opera House namely Pancharatna,Shreeji Chambers and Prasad Chambers — the transition took a few years. “We cannot force anyone to move; they will do so on their own when more of the bigger traders move to BDB,” he said.

Notwithstanding the increased threat perception in carrying out a chaotic trade in the Opera House area,the reluctance to start operating from the BDB is despite that the complex houses a fully functional customs department,a trading hall,safe deposit vaults,four banks and basement parking for over 2,000 cars.

Anoop added that the distance from their homes has been a major deterrent for smaller traders. Pointing out that the bourse also offers a 20,000 sq ft negotiation hall in addition to 265 cabins for small-time traders from Surat,he said,“Some of the traders have even done up their interiors but have still not shifted. There is a herd mentality and the shifting will pick up momentum gradually.” He added that several traders have committed to shifting around Janmashtami in August and a few others during Dusshera.