Bhagirath Palace in Delhi wears deserted look
Asia’s biggest wholesale electrical market Bhagirath Palace — a one-stop destination for retailers to buy electrical equipment — located in the heart of Delhi, wore a deserted look on Tuesday ahead of the festival season.
Many traders were sitting idle waiting for customers with only a few people seen doing window shopping in the narrow lanes of the market.
Bharat Ahuja, president of Delhi Electrical Traders Association, hold economic slowdown responsible for slack business. “Many real estate projects have been stalled in neighbouring States and it has hit sale of electrical appliances. Realtors were our major buyers and we have lost them as well,” he said.
Ahuja said the Union Government has done nothing to address our concerns except announcing support to micro, small and medium enterprises. “How does it help traders?,” he said, adding that the decreasing number of Government or local bodies tenders for electrical appliances has further added to our woes.
Traders claimed 70 to 80 per cent drop in sales has affected the job prospects in the market. A trader said shopkeepers used to employ four to five workers every year before Diwali to deal with the festival rush but the situation this year is different. “Now, it is difficult to keep the existing employees as there is not enough work. Staffers employed in shops have been reduced to two or three as compared to 10 to 12 in corresponding years.
“Many workers came from different States in search of jobs here but they returned back disappointed,” he said.
However, some traders blamed road blockage due to redevelopment work being carried out by the Shahjehanabad Redevelopment Corporation, a firm responsible for redevelopment of Old Delhi.
Ashok Kumar, owner of New Bhagwati Lite said that one of the reason due to which sells have been affected is curbing vehicle movement leading to the market by the authorities. “It has also affected sells but the major reason is slow down of economy,” he added.
It may be noted that the SRDC as part of the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project is making a nearly 1 km-long dual carriageway stretch of the famed street, from Fatehpuri Mosque to Red Fort, pedestrianised to bring back the charm of Chandni Chowk.
Kumar also said that buyers from adjoining States of Delhi like UP, Bihar, Haryana, Orissa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra have also not been turning up for purchasing Diwali accessories, citing lack of demand and money as a reason.
Another trader said that transaction worth crores of Rupees was made on daily basis in the market and a huge economy is involved that sustains not only the traders but thousands of daily wage labourers who offload and load the bulk of material into and outside shops. “Now the current situation has made it difficult for not only traders but the daily workers to sustain their livelihood,” he said.
The Bhagirath Palace market was opened in 1950 is a hub of import and export trade in electrical equipment as it caters to the export demand from the markets particularly in neighbouring countries like Sri lanka, Pakistan, the Maldives, Bangladesh etc.
In this market one can find a range of electrical products such as lightening of all types, lamps, types of lightening equipment and electrical decoration used during festive season or in parties, marriages and functions, wiring of all types and almost everything that comes within the ambit of being “electrical” equipment is available at this biggest wholesale market in Asia.
In Box (History of the market)
The electrical market, primarily settled in an early colonial time heritage building~ Begum Samru’s Palace - which hosts more than 4,000 registered shops in the market. The palace was built by Begum Samru and was known by her name until it was brought by Seth Bahgirath Mal after which the palace got its new name - Bhagirath Palace. One of the major landmarks in the history of palace is that it is famous for housing last mughal emperor Bahadur Shah after he was captured and arrested for alleged involvement in Mutiny of 1857.
