Tangled wires add to problems of congested bazaar at Saidan Gate

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, June 21

A tangled web of overhanging black wires greets unsuspecting visitors to the congested Saidan Gate old bazaar street.

While the narrow bazaars of the old city are marked by close set shops, leaving just a thin patch of sky to peek through, this little patch, too, has been claimed by the mesh of wires which make it difficult to peek through.

it’s not an issue for authorities

‘I have a shop in the area for the past over 30 years. This mess (of wires) has always been over our heads. These are mostly telephone and cable wires. They have only grown over time. No one has bothered about to clear them. It is hardly even considered a civic issue.’

Rupesh Anand, tea stall owner

A canopy of shops huddled together on the ancient lane and shopkeepers are so used to this unwanted fixture over their head. They say they are now fed up of talking about it, as no one will address the issue. Rupesh Anand, a tea-stall owner at Saidan Gate says, “My shop in the area is 30 to 33 years. We don’t even know how old this problem of wires is. This mess has always been over our heads. These are mostly telephone and cable wires. They have only grown over time. No one has bothered about this. It is hardly even considered a civic issue.”

At Saidan Gate, however, this is not the only trouble. An electric pole right opposite the wire mesh stands at a spot where people turning the street often miss it and bang their heads on it.

Another local resident Suresh says, “We have the wire mesh canopy on one hand and the disruptive pillar jutting out suddenly on the other. It makes the place a rather unsavoury for opening shop. But the locals make do. The wires are relatively higher up but many people have banged heads on the pillar and have had accidents.”

To prevent this, shopkeeper Rupesh even laid a sackcloth on the pillar so that people do not get seriously injured.

A neighbouring shokeeper, much of whose shop front has been reclaimed by the jumbled mass of wires, grins and says he has nothing to say on the issue, as no matter what anyone says or does, nobody will fix up the mess.