Juna Bazaar gets a new location

PUNE: Traffic jams near the Kumbharwada chowk on Wednesdays and Sundays will be a thing of the past from Sunday as the Juna Bazaar, which occupied one side of the road on these days, will be shifted to a nearby location.
The removal of the bottleneck will reduce the travelling time of commuters going to the collectorate, regional transport office, Pune railway station, central building, and Sadhu Vaswani chowk.
The Juna Bazaar used to be held on the stretch between Kumbharwada chowk to Shahir Amar Sheikh chowk. The bazaar is famous for the variety of domestic and commercial goods available, such as clothes, crockery, knives, axes, hardware and automobile parts, footwear, electronic gadgets like television sets, mobile phones, calculators, old classical music cassettes, and antique coins and statues.
Vishwas Pandhare, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said, "The decision to shift the bazaar is an outcome of discussions between various departments of the Pune Municipal Corporation, traders in the bazaar and the traffic police. The implementation will start from Sunday." The civic body has relocated all the traders to a plot located near the Juna Bazaar, after removing all the encroachments.
Commuters have welcomed the decision. Pradip Vitkar, an autorickshaw driver said, "It is a major relief. On bazaar days, it used to take almost half an hour to reach Pune station. I have seen several customers worried about missing their trains due to the traffic congestion."
Vahid Tamboli, a resident who drives a tempo in the Juna Bazaar area, said, "There are more than 600 traders doing business on two days of the week. The decision will definitely help commuters as vehicle parking won't be allowed on either side of the road."
Chandrashekhar Dhamdhere, a regular commuter on the stretch, said, "It was a nightmare driving a four-wheeler on this road on bazaar days. Pedestrians had to walk on the remaining part of the road as vehicles used to be parked at the end of the road. Small accidents used to take place as people had to shift to the other side of the road divider."
Amol Bhujbal, another resident, said, "I travel by public transport and the buses used to get stuck because of the bazaar and move at a snail's pace. It used to take an additional half an hour to reach the corporation bus stand. On weekends, private vehicles used to be parked on the road, which caused more congestion. But the new plan will allow speedy movement of traffic and we can save some time, not to mention fuel."