Bandra fair brings more traffic, less trade this year

Mumbai: The much-awaited ‘Mount Mary Fair’, also known as the ‘Bandra Fair’, kick-started on Sunday with around 50,000 visitors. While it is expected that the weeklong fair will see enthusiastic response from visitors, it is also leading to issues of cramped, congested streets in the vicinity, said local residents.

The crowd coming in for the fair is causing congestion in the stretch between Bandstand and Bandra station, said the police officials. According to the police, people flock towards the Bandstand side after the fair. “After visiting the church, the crowd tends to move towards Bandstand, especially near Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow to see his house and later visiting the sea shore. This adds to the congestion between the seashore and the station,” said a police official deployed at the fair.

Regular commuters too complain about the chaos created by the vehicles being parked on the roads and the hawkers selling their wares around the area. “Normally, it takes about 15 minutes to reach the station from Bandstand. However, now it takes more than an hour,” said Maitri Deshmukh, a daily commuter.

On the other hand, the stall owners are worried about the decrease in footfall this year. Decorated with delightful delicacies one can associate with the state of Kerala, Asad Tykottil barely got any visitors on Monday morning.

He said, “Even on the second day of the festival, we are used to receiving many customers. But this year, the number of people has reduced and the business too had gone down.”

According to the volunteers, more than 50,000 people came to the fair on the first day of the fair, on September 10.

The eight-day long festival is celebrated annually to honour the birth of Mother Mary and starts on the first Sunday after September 8, her birthday.

The Bandra festival is estimated to be around 300-years-old and is said to have started after a statue of Mary was found floating in the Arabian Sea in the 1700s.