BBMP keeps Vijayanagar underground market phase 1 concealed, launches 2

Rachana Ramesh

Bengaluru

 Bengaluru has its very own underground market, with the design inspired by the famous Palika Bazar of Delhi. However, the one closer home has remained just a showpiece since its completion about a year ago. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike took up the project during 2017 in the heart of Vijayanagar, and completed the underground market that houses 40 shops only a year ago.

Instead of opting to open the facility, the BBMP has now expanded its work into Phase-II and in the process, blocked the entrance to the ready-tofunction market.

 The result is that we now have one of the finest examples of planning failures by the civic body. The BBMP has cied that the work was taken up in phases to cope with staggered funding. The Phase-II work hopes to add another 60 shops to the underground market. However, it has been in the excavation stage for a good three-four months now. The authorities have promised to complete the work in the coming year, but street vendors in the vicinity say they know better.

The ongoing construction work has led street vendors of the market to occupy the service road, which is already narrow. The entire stretch is ridden with potholes as it has not been asphalted after being dug out to install sanitary and water pipelines. The road, which was once covered with shadows of tall canopies and bustling shoppers, has lost its charm and business of vendors has significantly dropped.

“We relocated when the Phase-I work was taken up and hoped to be accommodated in our original space once things got back to normal. Now, they have started with the second phase, to keep our business disrupted,” sighed Gowramma, who sells bananas for a living at the spot. “They promised to finish the market in one year when they first announced it. It’s been over five years and we are yet to see any use of the underground market,” said Hema, who sells banana leaves and coconuts, and has had to move her makeshift stall into the service road due to the Phase-II work.

 “My business has been seeing losses by at least 50%. People do not choose to buy here anymore since it is inconvenient. You cannot step foot into the street without being honked at by a motorist or slipping into a pothole,” she added.

The service road houses hundreds of street vendors who sell a wide range of things – footwear, flowers, fresh fruits and even garments. They allege that the authorities did not even reach out and seek their opinion on the underground market before choosing to build it in their designated space. They have also not been provided details as to how the stores underground will be allotted to the vendors.

 Many speculate that the government will auction them by calling for tenders and they will not be able to afford them. The Vijayanagar bus stop also falls in the same area, and its structure was dismantled in order to make way for the construction.

It has left commuters who choose to travel by bus an angry lot as Vijayanagar is one of the main bus stops that acts as a midway stop, where many make a stopover in their onward journey. “If people are gathered to make a crowd, the driver stops, thinking we are bus commuters.

That’s probably not as bad as buses not stopping because the driver assumed we were shoppers at the market, a problem that gets compounded during non-peak hours” complained a commuter.