By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
A PROPOSED council review into Dandenong’s struggling Little India precinct will need to spark a “massive” revigorating campaign, says an aggrieved trader.
Kaushaliya Vaghela, who runs a fashion business Raj Rani Creations, says the Foster Street shopping strip has been empty since nearby roads were closed, dug up and reconfigured as part of the Revitalising Central Dandenong project.
A new pedestrian thoroughfare on Halpin Way and Settlers Square bypasses the once-bustling fashion, foods and retail zone.
“The whole point of that was for pedestrians to have easy access between the railway station and central Dandenong.
“So what will now entice them to come back to Little India?”
Ms Vaghela said it would be possible to revive the iconic precinct but it would take a “massive campaign” headed by the state government and Greater Dandenong Council.
“They’ve sucked the oxygen out of the air here.
“There’s a business closing every month.
“Half the businesses will go, I’d say, so I don’t know what they can do now.”
Last year, the precinct’s oldest store, Heidi Rose, closed, its owner declaring there was “no future” for her and other retailers.
Ms Vaghela has closed one of her two businesses in the precinct.
Greater Dandenong councillor Matthew Kirwan, who is due tonight (Monday) to table a motion for the council review, said he wanted the council to “give confidence to the traders about the council’s position on Little India and its future”.
He wants the council to reassess Little India’s branding and promotion, including more community events and improving “wayfinding” for pedestrians, motorists and commuters into the precinct.
“If that means doing a re-launch, and that’s what the traders want, that’s something I’d like the council to consider.”
Dandenong Retail Traders Association president Glenys Cooper said all traders in central Dandenong, including those in Little India, had felt “to varying degrees the negative impact” of the revitalisation.
“This motion to review Little India is a good start and, hopefully, will have outcomes that improve this street’s trading and those surrounding.”
