Bengaluru: Gandhi Bazaar to get makeover, DULT retracts 'pedestrians only street' plan

After having found success and acceptance for remodelling Church Street, the Directorate of Urban Land and Transport (DULT) had initiated plans for similar changes to Gandhi Bazaar. The project has been in progress for more than a year. A total of Rs 28 crore has been utilised for the project. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has chipped in Rs 6.93 crore of this. 

The authorities aim to improve the experience of shopping in this prime locality. For this the authorities would install street furniture. They would improve the lighting in the area. Litter Bins, stalls and kiosks would also be set up across the location. Maya Praxis, an architecture praxis has been involved in the project. Several workshops have been conducted along with the traders in the region to understand and incorporate their needs into the project. 

However concerns are being raised about aspects of the project. The most prominent among this is the construction of a pedestrian-only street which the traders thought would decrease customers for them as they deal with products such as fruits and flowers which have customers different from that of antiques. The DULT later backtracked on this plan. There is still no clarity if buses would be allowed to continue operating on the road. Other concerns are regarding whether the stalls would be allocated to new entrants increasing complications for the traders who have established themselves in the region.