While restoration of the 120-year-old Lansdowne Building in Mysore continues to hang in balance with no decision being taken yet, its 60 shopkeepers are hopeful of returning to business by mid-January.
Following the collapse of part of a roof of a shop that killed three persons on August 25 last, the 60 traders who did business in the ground floor, some 30 advocates and others who had their offices in the first floor, and a large number of job typists who eked out a living from their temporary table set up on the corridor, have lost livelihood for over four months.
After the incident, police and municipal authorities sounded red alert and banned the popular heritage Bazaar for public, including the shopkeepers and other professionals, darkening their future.
However, thanks to the intervention of District Incharge Minister S A Ramadas and Mysore City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner M R Ravi, the shopkeepers were permitted to put up temporary structures opposite the building, abutting the Venkatakrishnayya Park.
The shops are ready and awaiting electrical connections. These 50 shopkeepers have built the temporary shops in the same order they occupied their premises in the heritage building spending their own money and agreeing to pay a land rent to the MCC.
“We are waiting for agreement letters from the MCC so that we can resume our business and people can come to the bazaar as before. Presently, 50 shops are ready and 10 more are needed to accommodate all the shop owners,” says Lansdowne Building Tenants’ Association Vice-President Vijaya Kumar.
Faced with uncertainty after the tragedy, some traders and professionals found temporary accommodation elsewhere, closer to the bazaar. But, they complain that business is meagre and has only helped them to stay occupied.
“Each of us have spent Rs 65,000 for the construction and we need to spend another Rs 10,000-15,000 for a power connection,” says Kumar, a dealer in books, speaking to Business Standard today. He thanked the MCC officials for assisting them in the construction.
In the last four months, the traders have lost business heavily and the common man has suffered as the Bazaar met all his needs under one roof. The otherwise busy shopping area is a dead zone now and the live heritage bazaar has turned into a dead structure with further neglect and deterioration.
“For common people, Lansdowne Bazaar offered all the day-to-day services they needed, including large number of villagers who found easy access from the closeby KSRTC Bus Stand. Students, particularly engineering, are now put to hardship for their books, while they are rotting in the closed shops. Photo-copying, photo-framing, rubber stamps, medicines, textiles and even services of barbers, facilities that are not available even in a supermarket or a mall were available under one roof. All that is gone now; we hope the Bazaar will see life again,” says office bearer T V Mohan.
A busy Vijaya Kumar trying to identify the number of each temporary stall endorses his statement and says, “We are hopeful of MCC clearance and business again from January 14, the Sankranthi festival day.”
