For 55-year-old Abdul Khadir, the sight of a foreign tourist losing balance and falling in front of his shop, was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life.
Abdul Khadir, who owns a shop selling lace and embroidered pieces of cloth at one of the most important tourist destinations in Hyderabad, the 'Laad Bazaar', still feels sad about the incident which occurred about two-and-a-half years ago.
The foreign tourist, wearing pencil heeled shoes, was walking past his shop when she stepped into one of the many ruts in the road. Her heel snapped and she lost her balance, falling sideways. Before anyone could react and try to help her, she fell on her hip, the many parcels she had bought on her trip to one of Hyderabad's most famous landmarks, the Charminar, flying through the air.
For Abdul Khadir, the scene was more embarrassing not only because it occurred right in front of his shop, but also because of the woman's friends comments about the road conditions being 'pathetic' and the references to the 'backwardness' of the country.
The Laad Bazaar, known the world over for its shops selling bangles, zari and embroidery works, is the most sought-after destination for both national and international tourists. Going by conservative estimates, 500-600 foreign tourists visit the Bazaar each day.
The place is not only a tourist hub by itself, but also one of the arterial roads connecting the historic
Charminar with the
Chowmahalla Palace.
The place is crowded with shoppers, mostly women, at any given moment during the day. Shoppers' movement is getting tougher each day, not only because of the numerous push-carts parked at the narrow stretch of the Bazaar, but also due to the ruts on the road surface.
The centre of the road along the entire stretch was dug up some years ago, with much fanfare, to lay a pipeline for carrying power, telephone and internet cable underground as it was thought that the overhead cables were an 'eyesore'.
After laying the duct for the cables, the contractors filled the dug-up portion of the road with cement, seemingly taking care to make the worst possible job out of it.
The patchwork, carried on a pothole-filled road, was carried out by untrained 'masons'. These untrained masons were the young men working as salesmen at the many shops forming the 'Laad Bazaar'.
The salesman from 'Lad Sahab Collection', a clothing store, says, "After repeated requests to the authorities to repair the road, we were forced to patch it in front our shop ourselves. The road was in such a bad condition that it was dangerous not only for ourselves but for our customers. The contractors had disappeared after laying the pipeline, and we were forced to take matters in our own hands."
The entire stretch of the road is pretty uneven, and for a shopper, intent to gaze through the colourful items on display on both sides of the road, twisting an ankle or stumbling due to a rut on the road is commonplace.
"There will be an increase in the number of people falling down because of the uneven surface of the road, now that the rainy season has come," says Mohammed Imran of 'Sana Bangles & Jewellery'.
Imran further says that it has been 4 years since work began to lay the duct, and these 4 years have harmed the tourist flow.
Abdul Khadir says that a 4-year period is the end of a cycle for national tourists to come back, and says that tourists who had visited the Laad Bazaar four years ago would be reluctant to come back to shop here.
If Abdul Khadir's belief is true, then the authorities are not only being lethargic, but they are also denting the very prospects of cutting off a massive source of revenue for the state.
Courtesy: INN News