Mount Mary Fair: Stall owners reject Cardinal Gracias’s ₹550 per sq ft offer

Cardinal Gracias also stated that any loss incurred by the Basilica due to the reduction of price will be borne by the Archdiocese of Bombay

Mumbai: The third round of negotiations between the management of Basilica of Our Lady of Mount, in Bandra West, and shopkeepers looking to set up stalls on its steps at moderate rates ahead of the eight-day Mount Mary Fair, failed one again.

Mount Mary Fair: Stall owners reject Cardinal Gracias’s ₹550 per sq ft offer

On Friday, even as Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archdiocese of Bombay, agreed to reduce the rates from the proposed ₹900 (agreed upon after the second negotiation) to ₹550 per square foot for stall owners on compassionate grounds, the latter remained resolute in their demand. They gathered outside the Basilica to protest against the hike and held a peaceful candle light march.

A copy of Cardinal Gracias’s letter underlining the math to Fr Vernon and Fr Sunder, priests at the Basilica, was also pasted on its walls.

The letter read: “I am aware that there have been disputes regarding the stalls operated on the road leading to the Basilica during the Mount Mary Feast days. I had appointed Bishop Dominic Savio Fernandes to study the situation and give his recommendations, which he has done. Several people have appealed to me to review the matter. Taking into consideration that the pricing for the stalls last year was ₹500 per square foot (+ GST); I have directed on compassionate grounds that this year the stalls be given out at ₹550per square foot (+GST). The process for allotment of stalls by lots as followed last year is to be observed.”

Cardinal Gracias also stated that any loss incurred by the Basilica due to the reduction of price will be borne by the Archdiocese of Bombay.

The revised pricing does not work, said Rupesh Gomes, a shop owner, because when the 18% GST is added the price stands at ₹649 per square foot. In 2022, the rate was ₹290 square foot, and ₹590 per square foot in 2023 – all of it inclusive of rent, GST and the cost of setting it up.

“The revised cost is still higher by ₹59per sqft than last year. Owners of 150 stalls on the steps incurred average losses of ₹50,000 to ₹60,000 last year. We come here to make a livelihood, not incur losses,” said Gomes.

Stall owners harbour the belief that the rate-hike is the Basilica’s ploy to oust old timers. “It is to get rid of a generation old stall owners and bring in newcomers so that the church body can charge whatever price it wants,” said Gomes, adding that they lost more than 50% of old stall owners due to the price hike last year.

“This is the main contention of our protest. In 2023, out of the blue, a token system for selection of stalls was introduced, and more than 50% old stalls were left out. Many new ones entered the fray,” Gomes added.

Sashant Abreo, another stall owner said 150 stall owners were running the operations since 1950. “My mother-in-law used to run this stall; some of us have a rent receipt from 1947. This is the third-generation stall. Now, the rent is unaffordable. We are protesting to get the same stall at our old spot. This isn’t possible through lottery system,” said Abreo, added that their business also gets affected when it rains as people visit the Basilica but not the stalls on the steps. “Last year I incurred a loss of ₹42,000 and earned around ₹12,000- ₹16,000 a day. It did not even help cover the cost of material, transportation and labour,” explained Abreo.

Fr Nigel Barrett, spokesperson, Archdiocese of Mumbai, put down the reason for the revised rates to inflation. “Price of everything has gone up since last year. The increase is just ₹50 per sqft compared to last year. They have a choice not to set up stalls here; there are others willing to pay up.”

Another rationale for the hike, he said, was because of many “infrastructural additions that have to be fixed, such as making them fire resistant, as mandated by the BMC – so the rates go up.”