Some of the signatories to the letter include former cabinet secretary BG Deshmukh, Retd chief justice Sam Variava, former police commissioner Julio Ribeiro, architect Charles Correa, activist Medha Patkar, former sheriff Nana Chudasama and AGNI convenor Gerson Da Cunha.

The letter stresses that the new structure would cease to remain a municipal market, apart from highlighting the strain on infrastructure caused by new highrises. It reads, “The proposal was passed by voice vote, in less than a minute, on the floor of the corporation. The same principles are to apply to the other 100 municipal markets. The total public loss is likely to be over Rs 6,000 crores.”

Terming the existing proposal to hand over the redevelopment of the market to a private builder as ‘anti-city, anti-people’, the letter states that if the corporation nonetheless decides to go ahead with the proposal, the reason for such a re-opening of a proposal move should be discussed in the House and explained to citizens.

“We hope that at least now the commissioner and corporators will do a rethink on the proposal for the better of the city,” said activist Shailesh Gandhi who is also one of the signatories to the letter.

The corporation had last September approved a proposal to award the redevelopment of Crawford Market to RNA Developers. The proposal is still pending with the heritage committee since the developer is yet to submit his plans for approval. Activists and a small section of elected representative have been opposing the deal stating that rather than go with a developer appointed by the tenanted licencees in the market the BMC should have adopted a tendering system.

“We will be raising the issue of the monetary loss of over Rs 1,000 crore that the BMC will have to suffer, the issue of traffic congestion as a result of additional shops in an already congested area as well as debate the issue from the heritage point of view,” said Samajwadi Party corporator Mohsin Haider whose party corporator Sayeed Barjina Abbas has moved the reopening of the proposal that was sealed by the BMC last year.