Fisherfolk won’t be sent to Airoli, assures Mumbai mayor

MUMBAI: City mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar on Friday assured fisherfolk from South Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Mandai located near Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market or Crawford Market that they would not be sent to Navi Mumbai and would, instead, be rehabilitated in the city itself.
Mahadeshwar, at a press conference on Friday, said they had communicated the fisherfolk’s pleas to the municipal commissioner.“We held a meeting with the civic chief and informed him the Kolis are the original inhabitants of the city and should be rehabilitated in the city itself, and after the building is ready, they should be moved back to the same structure,” said the mayor. Damodar Tandel, president of Akhil Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Samiti welcomed the move.
Over 500 fisherfolk have been against the BMC’s decision to move them to Airoli Naka in Navi Mumbai. Earlier this month, the BMC had given them a month to vacate the building which has been declared dilapidated. They had threatened to take to the streets on August 1 if the BMC continued to pressurise them to shift from the market.