Drinking a cup of hot filter coffee, 32 -year -old Arun Kumar wears a distant and anxious form. Breaking the odor of the air filling the air, it takes his coffee to the garbage stairs with paper cups and plastic bags. There is no gutka stain on the walls with all.
Mr. Kumar’s day starts in this way, as it is ready to open its small textile shop in the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) complex in Jayanagar 4th Block in South Bengaluru.
Vegetable and flower market in Jayanagar BDA campus in Bengaluru. , Photo courtesy: K. Fate light
About five years ago, when Mr. Kumar went here, he was high. Now he is considering going out due to poor business. The basement has six floors with parking, which was opened in October 2017. But clearly, at the center of Jayanagar, once in-life-life market, there is no longer a shadow of its own life.
The structure was built after demolishing the Putna Kanagal Theater at a cost of 57 crores. The building has 55 shops on the basement, ground floor and first floor. The space on the upper floors is close-and-a-gesture, causing revenue loss to the BBMP, and gives the structure a uninhabited look.
Left halfway
The initial plan proposed to demolish the 45-year-old shopping complex, including Puttana Kanagal Theater, with multiplexes, multi-level parking and four modern towers characterized by a commercial hub. The old campus was formed in 2008. In October 2010, the property was transferred to the BDA for redevelopment. However, after completing a block, the BDA washed its hands and returned the property to the BBMP.
The old buildings at the location have not been demolished by the BBMP as per the plan. They lie and have turned into a den of illegal activities. Ever since a portion of this building was thrown, it is in a state of total neglect.
“Initially, for at least one year in the opening, the complex saw the business. The customers were keen to enter. About a year later, the footfall began to decrease. We were doing business of ₹ 25,000 to ₹ 30,000 every day and now we barely cross ₹ 7,000. The campus has failed badly to serve this purpose, ”Mr. Kumar said. “I’m now transferring out of the building.”
Santosh N, who runs a puja material store. Said that in 2022, shopkeepers deposited money to re -prepare the walls fired with gutka. Since there is no safety and maintenance, at night, the crooks sat inside the complex, drank, and thrown the bottles. With commercial quantity falling, shops on the first floor opened only after 11 am, Shri Santosh said that people coming to the fourth block shop from shops located on the streets, and many road vendors, who were allocated slots in the complex. They were, they are, using them only as a warehouse.
This so -called redevelopment market is not a separate case. Although the situation of neglect may be different, almost all of them are testimony that the traditional markets, which were the hubs purchasing for decades and were redeveloped to make them on the equilibrium with the mall, have failed. . The experience of vendors shows that consumers are very little interest in walking in shops inside the building. But the authorities are not in the mood to reconsider the model.
Once a stable
From the base of the old stable of a Persian businessman, Johnson Bazaar has been a milestone in Bengaluru since 1929. Once known as Richmond Town Market, this historic market was later named after a British civil servant. For decades, it had turned into a melting pot of cultures, tastes and stories, which stood as a will for the city’s colonial past.
Johnson Market in Bengaluru. , Photo Credit: Sudhakar Jain
The market is now weeping for the roof torn, broken walls, and garbage everywhere for attention with dump. Mohammad Nazir, who has a grocery store here, said, “This market has failed to keep pace with the changing city. It has a heritage shine but there is no urban glamor to attract customers. Even after giving a minor look to the market, it failed to attract customers. Shri Nazir’s grandfather was also vending this market.
Although the building has 72 shops, there are only 25 functional, and there is a proper business in outsiders. The inside space has been converted into storage facilities. Vegetable vendors are bound with hotels that source fruits from vegetables and large markets in the initial hours and keep them here to keep them here for hotel people, Mr. Nazir said. “People now have many avenues in which better facilities and better conditions. They prefer selfeny places. The footfall will be reduced until the market is renovated while maintaining the heritage value, ”he said.
Waiting for nine years
In Malleswaram, on Sampige Main Road, vendors say that after completion of the work, going to the 5+2 floor market building is not something they look forward. A fruit seller, Shanmugam, who has been running his stall for 45 years, said, such an experiment in the Gandhi market failed to get the desired results. Even more importantly, the vendors have lost interest in the form of the project that started nine years ago. Every year, BDA promises to be completed in six months but nothing happens.
Malleshwaram Bazaar in Bengaluru. , Photo Credit: Sudhakar Jain
The building under construction has space for the house of 181 shops, but the vendors have felt that the shifting will barely kill the business. To buy a banana for ₹ 20, will the consumers enter the premises as they have to pay the Office of 50, ask the owners of the store. “Even regular customers will stop coming due to extra money, they have to be taken out. However, we have no choice, but to capture otherwise we will be empty from the existing location, ”he said.
A senior BDA official claimed that the building is “close to completion.” He believed that there would be a mall above the ground floor and it would definitely attract customers.
St early structure
In 1998, the new KR market was built after demolishing an old building standing since 1928. The first such campus built in Bengaluru has also failed to give it. Ever since it was rebuilt, 1 million square feet have not been captured. The building has an underground basement, upper basement and two floors.
KR Market in Bengaluru. , Photo Credit: Sudhakar Jain
GM Diwakar, president of the Flower Merchants Association, said on the floor of the upper basement, “22 shops are working and on the first and second, hardly anyone.” Access to the market is a challenge. Visitors have to drive through either Avenue Road or Masuru Road which are infamous for traffic snarl. Consumers traveling on the metro have to be deepened in chikpet and walk. Bad access is keeping people away from this market and hence sellers have no option but to trade on the streets. Many shops in this building have also become storage areas.
In 2017-18, under the Smart City Project, around ₹ 50 crore was allocated for redevelopment. To date, no work has been done. He alleged that it was “one of the biggest scams” belonging to the city markets.
Attractive roads
In Gandhi Bazaar, a few decades ago, the BBMP developed a structure in front of the famous Vidyarthi Bhavan that is a place that can give homes to fruits, vegetables and flower vendors who can now do their business on the main road Are. But it has now turned into a place to dump a warehouse and waste. The sellers are still on the streets. They say that if they go in, they will suffer losses.
There is a shop in the building and pays rent to BBMP, Shankar said, “Gandhi Bazar’s attraction is road seller. Limiting them to closed rooms takes away the taste of the space. Initially, we agreed to establish trade inside the market. As the months have passed, we realized that such a business ecosystem does not work for us. ,
Old market complex in Gandhi Bazar in Basavanguri, Bengaluru. , Photo Credit: K. Fate light
With white-topping and infrastructure facelift, Shankar said that the air of this old market has changed. “One should not try to change this traditional place on the lines of Church Street. Church Street has a different feeling and crowd. The gradual change of Gandhi Bazaar has influenced the vendors, “he claimed.
Palik Bazaar
On the other hand, the BBMP is also using other types of marketplace, an example of which is in Vijayanagar in Palike Bazaar, the first underground market in Bengaluru. It simulates the Delhi model, but sellers in Vijayanagar say that it is not expected. After years of delay, the market was developed at a cost of 8 crores, inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in 2024.
S. Babu, President Karnataka Pragati Para Bidi Vyaparigala Union, is talking Hindu In January this, the executive engineer received a letter from the South Zonal Commissioner to call the house vendors a tender. “The irony is that already about 40 people have occupied shops. They are unauthorized. Among them, there are people who are also doing real estate business. Now BBMP has the task of emptying them from place. The real sellers in the area are for a long battle to enter their names, ”he said.
Apart from this, vendors now also feel that going underground from the roads will hinder business. In a city like Bengaluru, which is full of traffic issues, citizens want quick access to shops. Ideally, there is a winning position for both vending, vendors and customers on the streets without obstructing traffic or pedestrians. Babu said that all dedicated buildings and underground markets are not comfortable. This Palik market, any other redevelopment, would turn into a warehouse, like a renovated market, he feared.
Redevelopment continues
Despite the examples of failure, BBMP continues with its improvement efforts. This Russell wants to redevelop the market and create a complex in KR Puram. A senior BBMP official said that the projects cannot be abolished, citing some failures. For example, Banshkari BDA complex is still concluded, he said. In other areas also, people will travel if the vendors continued business instead of coming back on the streets without shopping habits and traded to take.
The official said that the people visiting the mall pay high fees, competing with the claims of the vendors that the payment parking discourages consumers. “It is about incorporating a new culture among citizens. For this to happen, vendors have to display some patience and tolerate some losses. After a while, the business will return normally. In the city, where the location is shrinking, the buildings nominated for vending will become a mandate. The vendors have to live with the time they develop rather than sticking to the ancient practices, ”he said.
Published – 21 February, 2025 07:06 AM IST
