‘Folding bed market’ on Mall road in Amritsar leads to traffic jams on Sundays

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Amritsar, November 13

Despite the tall claims of having removed encroachments, the estate wing of Municipal Corporation has failed to remove the “Sunday Bazaar” from Mall road, which poses a major traffic hurdle on the colonial era posh road. The temporary market on folding beds that offers apparel, household goods, kitchenware and other accessories comes up every Sunday on this stretch, which connects the SSSS Chowk to Batala road.

We came to buy winter apparel for the family as the rates are reasonable. The selling of food items by the vendors leads to traffic jam. Traffic should not be disrupted. Manish, a visitor

With the change in weather conditions, the vendors selling hosiery and ready-made clothes for winter are attracting a large crowd these days. Earlier, only kitchenware, ready-made garments, footwear and cosmetic items used to be sold in these markets that function from these makeshift beds. But now a large number of junk food sellers also set up their stalls. This leads to heavy traffic jam on the stretch.

However, the visitors find it better to buy cheap items sold here. But commuters claim that such “folding bed markets” are mushrooming in the city to lure customers from the middle and lower middle class sections of society. Known as the common man’s roadside markets, they have sprung up on various streets of the city, especially on Sundays and Mondays, when the main markets remain shut.

Saurabh Sharma, a resident of Batala Road said, “The roads are not meant for selling goods. There is no check by the MC on such roadside markets which add to the woes of the commuters. There should be such markets for low economic groups but the government should designate some open grounds and suitable location where no one suffers in the traffic jams.”

The vendors claim that they don’t have the resources to invest heavily in opening a shop, so they are left only with the option of setting up temporary shops that can function during the day and are wound up at night. Manish, a visitor to the Sunday Bazar on Mall Road said, “We came to buy winter apparel for the family as the rates are reasonable. The selling of food items by the vendors leads to traffic jam.”