Hundreds of people, including ladies and children across the capital city visited the relocated Bazaar in the I-9 sector on opening day on Sunday, after it had shifted from G 9.
A lady who came there accompanied by her husband couldn't believe that the market had shifted. She was overheard telling her husband that Capital Development Authority (CDA) had made quite a few announcements in the past about its shifting, but it wasn't able to do it until this Sunday.
A large number of people went there just to get the feel of a new place, but ended up making some purchases, all the same, even though the market was not fully operational, since more than half of the 2650 stalls were still empty.
But the vegetable stalls were doing brisk business. Here the rates of a few items like cabbages (Rs 12 per kilo), and carrot (Rs 10) had come down.
However, prices of tomatoes had again climbed to Rs 36, per kilo, and green chilly price was also high. Potatoes were up at Rs 46 and onions at Rs 65 for five kilos.
Fruit vendors had made some concession, lowering the price of kala kulo apple to Rs 75, although lower quality brown-green apples were selling at Rs 50 per kilo. Poor quality bananas sold at Rs 40 per dozen. Good quality bananas were not been seen in the weekly markets for months now.
In the garments section one vendor hawked ladies shalwar-kameez fabrics at Rs 200, mentioning at the same time that he had lowered the price by Rs 100.
Planners had even catered for newspaper stalls. We found three such stalls. Stall 001 was selling newspapers, including the day's issue of Business Recorder.
A neat and functional water filter was also located in the market place (though we saw no toilets). A stall-holder, who must be a smoker, was looking feverishly for a cigarette shop, but it wasn't there just yet. For that matter, food parks were still in the building stage, but we saw three stalls selling fresh sugarcane juice. Probably, the CDA had not looked at the new site from the point of view of traffic congestion.
More than 200 cars were lined up at the main highway leading to the Peshawar More, and about 300 cars and automobiles were on the road in front of the four gates, the road leading up to the Bazaar completely chocked with vehicles. When the Bazaar gets fully going more cars and automobiles will clutter up the highway, causing congestion. The Bazaar had shifted from the old G 9 area, yet the traffic there did not get any better.
Another concern was security at the new site. We found two personnel from unofficial security companies at two gates, but they did not have the garret. Mahmud, a security guard standing at a gate said on our asking that his garret was still locked up at the old place.
A number of vendors were still hawking their wares, especially dry fruits, outside the gates of I-9 Bazaar. However, the informal market of old clothes, shoes, spectacles, umbrellas, shoes, and a few even selling oranges and vegetables were still flourishing in the open yards, outside the old G 9 Bazaar area, until at 4 pm the vendors were chased away by CDA clerks, bringing to end the romance of the place, well known for opening a new avenue of buying and selling since 1982.