Mumbai, Oct. 14 -- With their pleas to shift the wholesale fish market from Senapati Bapat Marg falling on deaf ears, nearly 350 families residing in the Swarajya Cooperative Housing Society (CHS) in Dadar on Monday wrote to the municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. The closure of the Elphinstone bridge on September 12 had worsened the traffic situation in the area, posing hurdles in the daily activities of locals, the housing society said in the letter, and warned they would file a public interest litigation if no action was taken in 15 days. "Every morning, when we go to drop our children to school, a two-minute journey takes 15 minutes," said Dashrath Dongre, a Swarajya CHS resident. "The fish vendors have their vans parked on the road and sit next to them, selling their goods. That leaves only one lane for vehicles and no space for pedestrians, making it nearly impossible for us to traverse our way around." The residents' opposition to the wholesale fish market, which has around 36 licenced fish vendors, dates back to 2021, when they first demanded relocation of the market. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in response, demolished the shed next to the Dadar flower market, under which the fish vendors conducted their business, and barricaded the area. The vendors, in turn, approached the Bombay High Court for relief. Subsequently, the BMC offered them permanent relocation to the under construction Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market in south Mumbai. Till the new market was ready, the BMC and the court permitted the vendors to continue selling their wares on a small patch of Senapati Bapat Marg. "The court allowed the fish vendors to use a small patch of the road, only between 7am and 9am," said Chetan Kamble, another Swarajya CHS resident and founder of the civic group, Chakachak Dadar. "But the vendors do not follow suit. They start piling in from 4am, occupy large tracts of the road, and stay on till 10am. When they leave, the place is in a mess." After the Elphinstone bridge was closed, the barricades around the now-demolished shed were removed. This alarmed residents. "We wrote to the assistant commissioner of G North ward, the deputy municipal commissioner and officials in the (BMC's) market department regarding our concerns," said Kamble. The housing society also wrote to the local MLA and the MP, Mahesh Sawant and Anil Desai, respectively, suggesting an alternative location for the market in Wadala. Since they did not receive any favourable response, they wrote to Gagrani on Monday. Fish vendors said they make it a point to leave the area by 10am. They too were helpless, they said, as the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market where they will be relocated has not received the necessary clearances for them to move in permanently....