Time to take baby steps for Sassoon Dock revamp

Sassoon Dock

For some months now, this paper has reported about a number of problems dogging Colaba residents especially. These emanate from the iconic Sassoon Dock in the vicinity. The Dock, the city's well-known fish market has been part of the South Mumbai landscape for decades. Of late, locals claim the market has become a hub of problems, specifically in COVID times and out of that too.

They have through pictures illustrated throngs of persons at the site, many mask less, social distancing down to zilch, amidst all the cacophony early in the morning. Port Trust authorities' custodians of the property claim they are cracking down on those not following COVID norms through increased police presence.

We need to see the larger picture though. There has to be implementation of the plan to modernise the Dock. We simply cannot have presentations and then see them being frittered away, invaluable time and money lost as red tape once again stymies the Sassoon Dock makeover presentation.

At least begin by addressing the problem of fish being sold on the pavement outside instead of inside the Dock, the traffic snarl as trucks park outside the Dock early morning and the foul smell because of prawn peels littered outside. Some heed has to be paid of locals' woes and there must be a concerted will to fix these if not all problems. Instead of passing the buck, these are fairly straightforward complaints and can be addressed first up, if the makeover seems too mammoth and too complicated to undertake at one go.

These problems may seem minuscule to some but they are hugely frustrating to those in the area, leading to mental health issues. Let us at least see a beginning to cleaning up the area, start small with the most obvious changes needed.