For the last 30 years, fisherwoman in Dahisar and Borivli have to walk a kilometre to answer to nature's call.
Civic apathy in the city seems to have no limit. For the last one decade, the callous attitude of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has forced around 220 fisherwomen from Dahisar and Borivli markets to trudge almost a kilometre daily to answer to nature's calls.
The Dahisar fish market is in a particularly pathetic condition. There is no facility for sanitation and the stalls' roof sheets are broken. A dilapidated plastic shed was demolished after a huge outcry by fish vendors. There is still no sign of reconstruction of the shed.
"This has been the condition of this market since I was in my 30s. BMC has never paid attention here and we have been doing business in these pathetic conditions, with only tall assurances of change coming every five years," fisherwoman Kunda Takle (64).
While outlining problems of the market, Takle said the one that affected her the most was the absence of toilets. At this age, the required walk of around 1.2km takes a toll on her knees. "All the women want toilets to be constructed here. We have written to the local BMC office time and again but it seems our requests are falling on deaf ears," she sighed.
The market that mushroomed in 1980s also lacks a storeroom. Without cold storage, the 100-odd fish vendors are forced to pay Rs70 per day to a private contractor, who stores the fish in ice-boxes in a dingy room next to the market.
The sight and sound at the Dahisar fish market is mirrored at the Eksar market in Borivli. Here, the entire fish market has blossomed on the footpaths of the Eksar village, with the BMC not being able to construct a market here since the 70s.
Fisherwomen from Koliwada clean, gut and slice their fresh catch right on the footpath, along the BMC office. According to locals, the corporation had promised to construct a small market in the area, but has not been able to locate a plot till now.
"My granddaughter is now selling fish here – on the road, without any shed or license. The BMC officials can see the market right from their windows. But they have turned a deaf ear to our requests to construct a market in the gaothan," lamented Anna Rodriguez (70), who has been selling shrimp and shellfish at the market.
The women at Eksar also walk a kilometer for toilet facilities. Also, most women operate without a license and claim that in 2012, the BMC collected their details to give them licenses but not a stone has turned ever since.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator-corporator Manisha Chaudhari, who has now initiated a massive drive to provide these fisherwomen with licenses and to redevelop the markets, attacked the BMC over its passivity. Chaudhari, who had also raised the issue in the last assembly session, targeted the Shiv Sena-led corporation for playing politics with the kolis.
"They (BMC) are giving licenses to vada-pao vendors and hawkers, but not to these traditional inhabitants – Agari-Kolis. Now, with the intervention of the chief minister, the issue of licenses is being sorted. I have also asked the municipal commissioner to take steps to not only construct toilets, but also provide cold storage facilities," she said.
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