Chor Bazaar - a market on the move

A major part of Delhi's history is likely to soon have a new address.

'Kabari Bazaar', popularly known as 'Chor Bazaar', one of the most famous markets in the city, and presently running illegally from Subhash Park near the Red Fort, could be relocated. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to move the market to Asaf Ali Road, Darya Ganj in Old Delhi.

Security reasons

The market reigned supreme behind the Red Fort on Bela Road for more than four decades, only to be removed completely from the site in December 2000. The entire area was cordoned off due to security reasons following the militants' attack on the Red Fort.

It gave way to a beautiful, lush green park ensuring that the place which swarmed with shoppers and sellers on Sundays wore a completely deserted look.

But the bazaar's present location exhibits rows and rows of shops selling an assortment of clothes, shoes, crockery, cutlery, furniture, electronic items, spare parts and other accessories. It is a boon in disguise to people who love to wear fashionable, but cheap goods. Many of them have tags of foreign brands, which catch the fancy of buyers.

Goods available for Rs 1,000 in other markets are sold here for Rs 100. Says a garment seller, Ahmed Abbas: "We buy goods in bulk which are imported from Japan, Korea and the US. These second-hand clothes are sometimes mended and cleaned in a manner that they do not look old."

Encroachments

The hawkers crowd pavements, encroaching streets and making the area a hub of commercial activity every Sunday. While the streets are overcrowded with the encroachments, neither the police nor the civic authorities are able to do anything to control it. "They also need to earn a living," sympathises a police officer.

Says Kamaal Khan, a resident of Darya Ganj: "Every Sunday I have to visit Kashmere Gate for work. But I have to avoid this particular stretch between Darya Ganj and Subhash Park and take a detour, as it is impossible to get out of here since most vendors sit on the streets due to lack of space. The pavements on the sides of the roads are not visible what with people swarming like bees."

Set up since the Mughal period, the bazaar was initially a part of Meena Bazaar at the Red Fort and later moved to Chawri Bazaar near Jama Masjid. Operating as a Sunday market, during the mid-60s it moved to the front of the Red Fort. But heavy traffic snarls in the area on account of the bazaar forced the civic authorities to soon move it to the back of the Red Fort.

Displacement

By then it had become a haven for junk and stolen goods available at very cheap prices, and started being referred to as 'Chor Bazaar'. The more than 1,500 sellers would gather every Sunday to sell their wares. People from as far as Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, bordering Delhi would set up shops at the market.

But ever since their displacement from the vicinity of the Red Fort to its present premises, several shopkeepers have moved to other weekly markets in other areas of the city. However, once again heavy traffic in the area has prompted the civic authorities to move the bazaar again.

Rues Mohammed Zafar, "The number of shops has dwindled due to lack of space. We have seen a drop of 50 per cent in our sales ever since we moved from the Red Fort area. "Several of our regular customers find it difficult to locate us. If we are moved even from this area, our business will hit an all time low. If people face difficulties in finding us, they will certainly not keep searching for us."

The MCD had offered them alternative sites in Burari, on the outskirts of Delhi but the shopkeepers refused to move there. "We declined because firstly it is too far away from home and moreover, we shall miss our regular customers around the Chandni Chowk area," says Zafar.

Ram Babu Sharma, MCD, standing committee chairman, says: "Talks are on with the representatives of the market to move them to an open space. If all goes well the bazaar will be set up at Asaf Ali Road. We have already approached the police and are awaiting their approval."

TO MARKET

Part of history
• Currently runs illegally from Subhash Park near the Red Fort.

• Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to relocate the market to Asaf Ali Road, Darya Ganj in Old Delhi.

• Market reigned supreme behind the Red Fort on Bela Road for four decades, only to be removed from the site in December 2000.

• The entire area was cordoned off due to security reasons following militants' attack on the Red Fort.

• Set up since the Mughal period, the bazaar was initially a part of Meena Bazaar at the Red Fort and later moved to Chawri Bazaar near Jama Masjid.

• It is a boon in disguise to people who love to wear fashionable, but cheap goods. Goods available for Rs 1,000 in other markets are sold here for Rs 100.