GUWAHATI: A stone’s throw from the Dispur Secretariat in GS Road, the 45-year-old Dispur Supermarket lies in deplorable condition. The shopkeepers complain of pathetic road conditions, unhygienic public amenities, unmanaged traffic, artificial flood, water leakage and poor maintenance.
The supermarket area is resident to various places of interest including the GNRC Hospital, the North East Tennis Foundation (NETF) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Further, residential houses of numerous state ministers are also located near the supermarket. Yet, the shopping alley depicts a sad state of neglect and apathy.
An overwhelming stench greets one inside the market with a garbage bin placed right in the beginning of the alley. Neither is the market cleaned on a regular basis nor is the garbage collected on time.
“Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) workers do not visit the market regularly or ensure cleanliness and hygiene,” expressed Sanjib Choudhury, secretary, Dispur Supermarket Business Association (DSBA).
Speaking to G Plus about the major problems faced by the shopkeepers of the area, Pabitra Sarma, President, DSBA informed, “The market was established in 1973 but it hasn’t undergone any repairing or renovation ever since. This road connects to important points of the city and yet it’s always congested. People park in no parking zones, and there are no authorised personnel to manage anything – be it illegal parking or regulation of traffic.”
The condition of the road in the supermarket area has been in an unfortunate state for a very long time, the road remains dilapidated and in need of immediate attention. The negligence on the part of the GMC and the Public Works Department (PWD) in working towards the development of the road and sewage is leading to regular traffic jams, floods during rain making it prone to accidents.
“The roads are in an appalling condition which get even worse during the rains. All it takes is half an hour of heavy rain to flood the roads because of its poor drainage. Had the roads been in better state, more customers would visit and the market would flourish,” said Hargovinda Baishya, who is a shop owner at the market.
In the same vein, another shopkeeper informed, “I have been running a shop here for the past 35 years and I have seen a tremendous decline in the number of customers. People have blocked shops and kept them locked due to which the customers also do not come to the interior alleys.”
He further added that the GMC needs to regulate the shops operating in the market to ensure no unfair trade practices are being carried out.
GMC views contradict Market Association’s
The Dispur Supermarket was established right next to the Secretariat when Dispur became the State capital, in order to make the market easily accessible for the government officials. While it was opened up by the General Administration Department (GAD), it was soon handed over to the GMC.
The DSBA claims that the market hasn’t undergone any renovation or repair ever since its inception.
Tasdiqur Rahman, Chief Engineer, GMC informed G Plus that the woes of the shopkeepers will be resolved with the upcoming market complex (which is expected to be up and running by the end of the year).
On the contrary, the market association claims that the complex being constructed is a GMC office, instead of being a market space.
Speaking about other developmental plans for the market, Rahman said, “Once the construction of the market complex is complete, we shall develop the roads and other infrastructures as well.”
Surprisingly, Rahman told G Plus that he was unaware of a parking lot functioning in the area while according to the market association, the parking lot was allotted via a legal tender process.
The paddy field that has been converted into a parking lot poses as a problem for the residents of the area as the field was earlier used by children as playground. Various events like Bihu Sanmilan and cultural programs were also organised in the field.
The market association said they have approached the GMC on multiple occasions with a proposal to make one side of the road ‘No parking zone’ and allow parallel parking on the other side, but no steps have been taken by the government so far.