Bengaluru: Shoppers paradise Commercial Street gets swanky makeover

Bengaluru: The city's popular shopping destination Commercial Street has got a swanky makeover with a new design from the Bengaluru Smart City Limited (BSCL). The BSCL took up the relaying of the 550-metre-long road at a cost of ₹5.5 crore in May 2020. In July 2021, the road was officially inaugurated but the BSCL was accused of doing a "shobby work" after the tiles and cobblestones started wearing out within days.

The recent rains in Bengaluru exposed waterlogging on Commercial Street, where cobblestones had got dislodged and water was seen gushing out of a pipe from the footpath.

In August, Revenue Minister R Ashoka did a spot inspection of the road and ordered the contractor to relay the road with tiles of superior quality and bear the expenditure. Apart from Commercial Street, surrounding roads such as Dispensary Road has also been redeveloped.

The beautification project was commissioned under the Smart City project in order to make the street more pedestrian friendly so that footfall can increase and aid business. Work began in May 2020 but was delayed several times. The footpath is paved with granite stones, with white-topping (concrete) of the main carriageway and soon LED streetlights will be installed. The contractor will be in-charge of maintenance of the street for the next five years, after which it will be handed over to BBMP for upkeep. Additional chief secretary, urban development department, Rakesh Singh and BSCL MD Rajendra Cholan visited the street to inspect the work on Saturday. Speaking to media, they said that work like placement of dustbins and sewage connections to the buildings will be completed by Monday.

"The Commercial Street road works are nearing completion. Incredible support from civic agencies like BWSSB, DULT, BESCOM, BBMP among others and traders and establishment owners helped us complete the work successfully," a senior official said.

One of the traders, Tanzeem Ahmed said, "Business on Commercial Street was affected for the last 2 years due to the pandemic and flaws to correct which redevelopment of the stretch was taken up in phases, Bengaluru Smart City Limited finally gave us some hope to run our buisness without any hurdles. Earlier, the customers faced many problems walking down this lane as road repair work was going on. We just want the Covid third wave to get over, so that normal life starts." Another trader, Abhay Jain says, The Commercial Street traders were involved in the project discussions and meetings. The entire stretch of carriageway was developed in two phases and this plan was given by our traders' association. The road was redeveloped under Smart City Project and inaugurated in July 2021 but showed signs of damage. "The Revenue Minister had visited and asked the contractor to fix the road properly. So the road work got extended and now is ready for public use. We just want our business to improve, and attract more shoppers to visit the street to shop like earlier."