In a city full of iconic locations, Kala Ghoda stands out as an art neighbourhood with places like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay, Jehangir Art Gallery, National gallery of Modern Art, Institute of Contemporary Art and Eliyahoo Synagogue. The locality, which has turned into a tourist spot with a wide variety of aesthetic cafes, restaurants and eateries, will soon undergo a change to enhance its beauty and attract more tourists.
After the Kala Ghoda Association, which looks after the annual Kala Ghoda Festival, proposed a pedestrian-only policy for some internal roads in the vicinity, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken up the project to beautify Kala Ghoda and make it vehicle free from August 31. Initially, the BMC is planning to implement the ‘no-vehicle’ policy only on the weekend evenings.
The BMC plans to implement the policy on internal roads in the area — Forbes Street, Saibaba Street, Rope Walk Street and B. Bharucha Road — which will be transformed with cobbled pathways, wall paintings and street artefacts. The streets will turn ‘pedestrian-only’ from the last Saturday of August from 7 pm to 12 am and beautification work will start in October.
“The idea is to create a hangout spot for people which can give them an experience of some foreign countries,” said a BMC official from the A ward. “With new pavements, paintings and lights, we are planning to designate spaces with benches where people can relax and tables where they can enjoy their food from the nearby restaurants,” he added with a note that they have also received a no-objection certificate from the traffic police.
However, the plan to transform the locality does not appeal to the wide range of businesses thriving in the art neighbourhood. Although the business owners feel that the plan is innovative and will attract a lot of people from different parts of the city, they feel it will not benefit their businesses and might have a negative impact.
Owner of one of the many fashion designer brands located on the Forbes Road said that the plan is good in terms of transforming the locality but making the area vehicle-free will lead to loss of customers. “Most of our customers belong to the higher economical class who come shopping in their high-end cars and they step out right outside the store. Youngsters might walk if they have to but elderly people cannot walk such a long way. Also many people will skip coming on weekends thinking that the area would be overcrowded.”
While the fashion labels did not show happiness over the plan, cafe owners had mixed reactions as small cafes hope for increased footfall while high-end cafes and restaurants see it as loss-making for their business.
“The customers do not want to walk a single step and they call their drivers even if they have to go to the next shop. This plan will definitely invite complaints from our customers and they might avoid coming on weekends, which is the most important part of the week for us. The outdoor dining area will surely help the eateries around but businesses like us which thrive on the upper-middle class customer base, will not benefit,” said the owner of a high-end restaurant located on the B Bharucha Road.
The Rope Walk street being very narrow does not allow parking of cars, the Saibaba street right opposite to Rope Walk is congested with cars parked on both the side of the lane. Small business owners in the lane welcome the move with a hope that it will prevent parking outside their stores but are also worried whether their tempos will be allowed to deliver the products.
Prashant Tirodkar, who runs a air conditioner parts store, said, “Every morning before we open our shop, we have vehicles parked outside our entrance. Sometimes it is so bad that we have to struggle to open the store. But, we will face difficulties in receiving our deliveries which have to be transported till our doorstep as they are heavy. We will have to change the timings of ordering our products accordingly.”
While the shop owners are divided about the new plan to transform Kala Ghoda, hawkers in the area are clueless whether their existence will be considered in the plan. A buttermilk seller, who puts up his stall under a peepal tree located on the Forbes Street, said, “I have been putting up my stall here for over 10 years now. I hope we are also included in the plan and can earn some extra cash with the implementation of the new plan.”
