Palika Bazar is a dream gone sour

new delhi: two decades ago palika bazar, the city's first centrally air conditioned underground market, was delhi's pride. today what is left are the skeletal remains of an once ambitious project marred by official apathy and lack of civic sense in the general populace. located in the inner circle of connaught place, the first thing that hits one after passing through a metal detector at the entrance is the bustle and the cool air.as one descends the stairs, the distant buzz becomes a cacophony—of shopkeepers trying to entice customers, the usual haggling and the blaring filmi songs. palika bazar is a shopper's dream with everything available under one roof, from garments, electronic goods, snacks, jewellery, precious stones to bags, lingerie, video games, cds and vcds. palika is also the hub of all sorts of smuggled electronic goods with shops boldly displaying cds of blue films. however, behind this bustle is the dilapidated condition of the palika bazar. after over two decades, the shopkeepers feel cheated. built on three acres in 1978, the market houses 397 big and small shops. shopkeeper a k javed said: "the ndmc earns about rs 35 lakh per month as revenue from the shops, which comes to nearly rs 5 crore per annum, but seeing the condition of amenities, one wonders where all the money goes." the ceiling of the market is in a shambles with electric wires dangling precariously. a tall visitor, vikram kumar, was eager to pose for the photographer, to show the hazard the wires posed. "the repair of the already dilapidated ceiling has been going on for over six months and no end seems to be in sight," javed said. basic amenities are in a sad state. while there are four toilets with sub-sections for men and women, respectively, they should be best entered blind-folded after clipping one's nose. sangeeta and prithu jain from the us were seen buying kolahpuris from a shop. "i like the place, though in a shambles, because its cool during the afternoons. only if the authorities could take care of the basic hygiene in the toilets and corridors." similar views were echoed by jina srivastava, a student of indraprastha college. "this place has great potential. but due to its poor maintenance, most of the decent crowd keeps away. also there are no visible sign boards atop palika to indicate its presence," she said. anil suri, also a shopkeeper said: "while there are six water tanks, the condition is such that we spot cockroaches floating in the water. while we bring water from our homes, we are concerned about our customers. it gives a bad impression on them." "already we are lagging behind janpath in business, on top of that if customers are not satisfied with basic services it effects our business," javed chipped in. also the palika parking that is used by most shopkeepers is not safe. sometime back, a car was broken open and stereo stolen. the shopkeepers alleged they were not allowed to use electricity on sunday. the association members said: "we require electricity on sundays to do repairs in the shop or for any sundry reason but are unable to do on safety grounds. however, if we pay rs 250 underhand, we are given supply readily. the safety point goes for a toss then." intellectual property rights lawyer akash chittranshi said: "though palika specialises in counterfeit goods, 10 per cent of them come from the grey market (goods not meant for sale). since the middle class and ones on the lower side have the emotion to buy branded goods at cheap rates, they are sold fake goods." "these shopkeepers exploit this emotion which results in huge revenue losses to the government. i am sure if the customs and the police swing into action, it can be curbed." however, defending duplicate goods doing rounds in the market, kumar said the owners have no choice but to take out their profit as the rentals are very high. palika bazar shopkeepers welfare association vice-president vinay kumar said: "the shops were given to us on lease by the ndmc and in our first agreement it was written that rent would be increased by 10 per cent after five years. but since then, the ndmc has been charging us rent at the rate of 10 or 30 per cent every five years. now the ndmc has declared that it would be increasing rent by 10 per cent every year." all the shopkeepers demanded in unison that this unprecedented rent hike be stopped. the association also demanded that when a shop is transferred to another, the ndmc should fix charges and make them uniform. citing an example, two months back one owner surrendered his shop because of high rent. he was paying rs 11,500. however, after the ndmc invited tenders for bidding, the same shop was leased to another for rs 6,000. javed said: "palika was built to relocate shops in panchkuin road, shankar market and janpath. because of asiad games in 1982, roads had to be widened and shops were allotted after an affidavit to the unemployed who had no source of livelihood." while the tussel between the shopkeepers and the ndmc goes on, it is the palika along with the customers who continue to bear the brunt of gross neglect.