The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : The pitfalls of a visit to Laad Bazar

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Thursday, Jun 19, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

The pitfalls of a visit to Laad Bazar

J.S. Ifthekhar

Work on laying underground cables nowhere near completion

— PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU

Rocky terrain: Work on the sewerage pipeline across Charminar has been pending for long.

Hyderabad: There can be no greater shock to a tourist. All the excitement of getting an exotic experience evaporates the moment one sets foot here. Laad Bazar is not what one has heard about – not at least now. Forget the promised ‘holistic experience’, tourists feel like beating a hasty retreat.

All the ambitious plans of making it a model street remain just on paper. Today it presents a picture of chaos. The bowels of Laad Bazar are laid bare as it were. The stretch is simply un-traversable dug up as it is from end to end. In the name of laying underground cables, the civic body is making mincemeat of the road for the last few months. And the work is nowhere near completion.

Drop in visitors

A board at the Chowk end of Laad Bazar says “No entry from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.” But all kinds of vehicles keep trundling along on the undulating terrain throughout the day. It is pedestrians and tourists who have to fight for space – literally. Laad Bazar is a must see after Charminar, but the number of tourists coming here have dropped sharply. “Who would like to come shopping on this battered road?” asks Abdul Khader, a handloom shopkeeper.

His neighbour Sabir agrees and says business has dropped by 75 per cent during the last one year. The apology of a road has kept customers at bay. One has to brave dust and potholes to come here. “You can see the layer of dust settled on the clothes. Many of us have developed respiratory problems,” says Mujeeb, a bangle seller.

Dug up earth is piled along the shops making entry difficult. At some places the shops have come down to road level with the result water gushes in whenever it rains.

The work of laying underground pre-cast ducts for carrying electricity, telephone and other cables commenced in August last. It was to be completed in four months flat. But like all GHMC projects it too has a beginning, a ‘muddle’ and no end. The work is progressing in fits and starts putting the public and shopkeepers to untold misery. The whole idea is to free Charminar from the maze of criss-crossing wires and provide an uncluttered view of the monument from Laad Bazar. But what one gets now is a potholed experience. Howzzat.

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