Saifee residents fear redevelopment project will erase local history, heritage
The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Belief (SBUT) cluster redevelopment challenge, the most important such challenge within the metropolis unfold throughout 16.5 acres in Bhindi Bazaar, will convert the congested space into one with swanky retailers and highrises. Nonetheless, what might also be a factor of the previous is the wealthy historical past and the cultural heritage of the assorted lanes and bylanes that dot the neighbourhood – be it the notorious Pakmodia Road, which is healthier referred to as the realm the place fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim grew up, or the ‘Photograph Road’, amongst others.
The Saifee Jubilee Road, a slim street working parallel to Mohammad Ali Street in south Mumbai, has distributors promoting footwear, kids’s garments and different knick-knacks leaving hardly anyplace for pedestrians to stroll with out bumping right into a passer-by. Whereas the distributors are nonetheless there on both aspect of the road, a constructing behind them has simply been introduced down. The distributors know their days right here, too, are restricted. “The redevelopment work has begun. We have no idea how lengthy we will promote wares right here,” Ishtiaq Shaikh, a road vendor who sells garments, mentioned.
Zubair Azmi, the convener of Urdu Markaz, mentioned that ‘Saifee Jubilee’ was the identify given to what was previously Cooper Road by a syedna of the Dawoodi Bohra group throughout his go to. Even the Raudat Tahera Road was renamed from Dabboo Road by the syedna. Raudat Tahera was inaugurated by the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed in 1975.
One other well-known road that may fall below the cluster redevelopment challenge is the Pakmodia Road – named after one Shaikh Abdul Pakmodia – the place Dawood Ibrahim resided in his rising up years alongside along with his household. Azmi mentioned that the road was earlier referred to as Physician Road. Samuel Sheppard in his e-book, Bombay Place-Names and Road-Names, writes that the road was named after Dr Khoja Abdulla of Ratnagiri and the road was earlier referred to as Shaikh Abdul Physician Road. Equally, a couple of streets down the road, one will discover Yaqub Road. It was as soon as referred to as the ‘Photograph Galli’ since a number of picture studios had been positioned alongside the stretch.
One other essential landmark of the cultural milieu right here was the Haji Lodge, which was owned by a Parsi who began out with a small stall promoting biryani pulav. Azmi mentioned that a number of film stars like Nimmi and Prem Nath visited the eatery often. Within the biography of Kamal Amrohi written by his screenwriter buddy Aga Jani Kashmiri, there’s a point out of how the duo shared a room above the restaurant earlier than making it massive in Bollywood.
The multi storeyed constructing – one of many first few – which have already come up as a part of the challenge | Specific picture
“Within the e-book, Kashmiri recollects how despite not having any cash, Amrohi fulfilled his promise of treating him on the Haji Lodge. He ordered a rooster dish and the overall invoice at the moment got here to Rs 17.30. Kashmiri questioned how Amrohi was going to cope with the scenario as he didn’t have any cash. Amrohi, nevertheless, confidently requested the restaurant cashier to offer him a change of Rs 2.70. The cashier assumed Amrohi was going to offer him a Rs 20 banknote. Amrohi, nevertheless, informed him to write down Rs 20 in opposition to his identify and swiftly left the restaurant,” Azmi mentioned.
Other than Haji Lodge, Lodge Aftab was a favorite of actor Mehmood, who ordered from the restaurant even after he shifted to Andheri. Alamgir Lodge within the space, too, was recognized to be the hang-out of author Javed Akhtar.
Azmi informed The Indian Specific: “Just a few years in the past, in a gathering with the representatives of SBUT, we had informed them that they need to retain a few of the names of those lanes. We additionally steered {that a} cultural centre must be arrange in order that the wealthy historical past of the realm could possibly be preserved. The realm has had a vibrant historical past with a number of massive writers and movie personalities residing right here or taking inspiration from the individuals residing right here to attract their characters.”
The mall kind construction the place retailers are quickly moved to | Specific picture
At the moment, a mall-type construction stands on Pakmodia Road subsequent to a big skyscraper. The mall is a makeshift association for retailers until the time they are often given slots within the new buildings that may come up in the end. The skyscraper has retailers on the primary few flooring with residential flats on the higher flooring. The 2 constructions stand oddly in opposition to the backdrop of the hustle and bustle and are an indication of the issues to come back within the subsequent few years.
