Laad Bazaar, the key destination for shopping by tourists and visitors of the city, now wears the appearance of a bombed out street. The centuries-old bangles bazaar that gives one of the sublime glimpses of Charminar has been dug up for the ongoing pedestrianisation.
“We are trying to finish it as early as possible. We are working through the night. We have completed 90 metres out of the 245 metres distance. Underground utilities have been laid in another 60 metres stretch. Give up 45 days and we will give a whole new experience of shopping,” says a Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Official when asked about the project.
But the dug-up road has come as a double whammy for traders on the street after demonetisation fiasco. “First it was notebandi (demonetisation) which kept buyers at bay, now this,” says Muhammad Iftekhar, pointing to the dug-up road. “They began work on January 3 and from that day about 60 per cent of my business is affected. Only people managing to come from Khilvat are purchasing goods,” he says about his cloth shop.
Even the first bangles shop at the entrance of the street has not been spared the blues due to the ongoing work. “Business is bad. Some days we are not even having boiny (first trade). We have not been told when it will get completed but till that time we have to wait and keep shouting for the few customers who brave the barricades and enter the street,” says Muhammd Kausar, as his assistant hustles customers into the bangle shop.
It is not just the business that has been hit. Many of the traders are upset with the unevenness of the newly laid cobblestones. “I fell down and hurt my ankle. I have not come to do business for the past five days,” says Md Zafar, who sells hairpins from his pushcart. Mr. Zafar took a tumble while walking on the road near Irfan Bangles and has a bandage on his left ankle.
“Friends told us that it is difficult to walk on this road but we didn’t expect this. This is impossible to walk. There is no place to walk. We didn’t buy anything here,” says Bibhuti Ghosh from Howrah, who came to see Charminar and bravely walked into the street along with his wife and son.
“The Charminar Pedestrianisation Project has been talked about for nearly 20 years. Now things are happening. This is only a short disruption which will improve the area in a big way bringing in more tourists. We are also working on creating a buffer zone around Charminar and the Mecca Masjid stretch,” says a GHMC official in defence of the ongoing work.
