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Monsoon arrival brings in waterlogging woes for Chandigarh’s Palika Bazaar shopkeepers
With most of the shops being located in the market’s basement, even slight rain arouses waterlogging in the shops, giving a hard situation to shopkeepers to save their products.
Palika Bazar, located in the city’s Sector 19, surely comes to people’s mind when they think of iconic and vibrant shopping spots in Chandigarh. Established in the late 20th century, the market has always attracted large crowds, both due to its variety of stores and also the unique design, which takes the visitors through a maze of shops built in the basement.
However, the market’s unique and fascinating design has an unfavourable flip side, which becomes evident each year as monsoon peaks in the city. With most of the shops being located in the market’s basement, even slight rain arouses waterlogging in the shops, giving a hard situation to shopkeepers to save their products.
“Waterlogging has been a persistent and disruptive issue for these underground shops ever since their introduction. We have had to rush to our shops in the middle of the night to save the products from damage. There have been years where water has reached knee-length in the already low ceiling shops. We have complained to the authorities on several occasions but the engineers come and agree to the suggestions of the shopkeepers only to never respond again,” said Baljit Singh, the owner of Bajaj Textiles, a 30-year-old shop in the market.
Singh, who is also a member of the Palika Bazaar Welfare Association, said the shopkeepers are concerned that their shops are being treated as “rainwater disposal grounds”.
“The pipes are located right next to our shops, which shoot out rainwater full of leaves, mud and trash, and we can’t do anything to stop it”, he said, adding that though the municipal corporation (MC) had built a tank to store the excess rainwater a long time ago, it has offered no respite to the situation as the capacity of the tank is inadequate.
Members of the association, troubled by this constant inconvenience, had collectively contributed to install a pressure pump, which could pull out water from the storage tank and make space for more water to avoid logging in the market. However, Divender Kumar, a salesman who operates the pressure pump, said operating the pump is a manual and rigorous task, which takes him 30-40 minutes but despite all the effort, it doesn’t solve the problem.
Satish Arora, owner of Fancy Lehenga Corner, admitted to having faced heavy losses due to rainwater ruining his products. “Every shop in this market has faced a loss due to this issue and despite having insurance, no one is able to get a full claim,” he added.
The Palika Bazaar Welfare Association has proposed two ways of fixing the issue, including diverting the ground water to a different channel and closing rainwater pipes near their shop, or connecting the water storage tank to the sewerage system so that there is constantly space for more water to come in.
