PUNE: Fashion Street, a popular shopping destination among shoppers in Pune, has been declared illegal by the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB).

The shopping hub in Camp, between MG Road and East Street, is a bustling marketplace where clothes, footwear, jewellery, accessories and other items at sold at throw-away prices and is under the jurisdiction of PCB.

A resolution to declare it illegal was passed in PCB’s General Body Meeting on Wednesday.

Pune Cantonment Board Vice-President Vivek Yadav, said, “We should declare the entire Fashion Street as an illegal market and remove the illegal stalls from there.”

Yadav also revealed PCB’s plan to make a commercial complex where only authorised sellers will operate on the ground floor and shops on other floors can be given to other commercial brands. PCB is expecting this project to bring them a revenue of approximately Rs 2 crore every month, Yadav said.

All ward members of PCB are in favour of it. 

Fashion Street comes under PCB’s Ward Number 4, whose Corporator Atul Gaikwad, said, “There are several problems at Fashion Street including eve teasing, charging extra for parking, unhygienic food stalls and violation of rules and regulation by stall owners.”

He said the number of illegal sellers -- those not authorised by PCB to do business there -- is increasing every day. “Therefore removing them all and constructing a commercial complex is the solution,” Gaikwad added.

TAKING ACTION
- After Mumbai’s Kamala Mills fire incident which claimed 14 lives in December 2017, the PCB had conducted a fire safety audit of the Fashion Street in January 2018.
- From that time, PCB has been mulling action against the illegal hawkers and vendors. 
- There are 440 authorised stalls while illegal stalls are growing in numbers.