Inderpal Sabharwal, Joint Secretary, Andheri Shopkeepers and Residents Welfare Association (ASRA) said, “There was no outcome of the meeting…MMRDA kept giving us the same old assurances. They have told us that we have to relocate temporarily till the mall is constructed. This is not acceptable at all.”

Even as the work on Phase I of the Metro line-Versova-Andheri- Ghatkopar has started, the MMRDA is yet to find a solution to relocate 180 shops from JP Road in Andheri. The shop owners demanded that the construction of the mall at the existing Andheri market should have commenced simultaneously with the Metro line work, as assured by the former metropolitan commissioner T Chandrasekhar.

The affected shopkeepers feel that the MMRDA has not kept its promise. “Former metropolitan commissioner, Chandrasekhar, had promised that all the shops to be demolished during the project would be rehabilitated at a mall in Andheri market whose work will start along with Metro rail construction. And by the time the line comes to our areas, the mall would be ready to accommodate us,” Sabharwal said.

The members of the association who had also threatened to go on a hunger strike have now pinned their hopes on Baldev Khosa, the MLA of the area, to clear the impasse. “I’ll be having a meeting with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on this issue on Thursday,” Khosa said.

Meanwhile, the solution to the issue is expected to be delayed as the BMC, which owns the Andheri market, is still to decide whether it will construct the mall or transfer the land to MMRDA for development. A senior official at MMRDA said, “BMC still has to decide if it will construct it...earlier they were keen to handover the land to MMRDA, but subsequently they are contemplating to develop it themselves, though there is still no official word on it.”