The new Big Bazaar store near Jagdeopath sells, on an average, 300 buckets daily, as against around 50 a day that two other stores of the same Future Groups sell.

Last Sunday, fried chicken chain KFC, famous for its 'finger lickin' good' stuff, opened its third outlet in Patna near Jagdeopath. Ladoo Gopal, a leading sweet shop chain here, is going to inaugurate its fourth outlet on the Ashiana-Digha Road on Thursday.

The arrival of so many brands in Western Patna, especially the Ashiana Nagar-Jagdeopath area, indicates the place has arrived. Be it Big Bazaar, Reliance Trends, or others, they all have set up shop here.

Eateries, too, are a big hit. A number of restaurants have mushroomed at every nook and corner here. Pizza Hut's third outlet in the city is coming up near Ram Nagari Mor. Domino's opened its outlet near Jagdeopath last year.

Market pundits have started looking at western Patna as an upmarket area. 'According to our recent survey, around 25 families are shifting daily from other parts of the city to western Patna. This is creating a huge consumer base for us. Apparently, this market remained untapped over the recent past but now people have recognised the business potential and new retail business outlets, right from hypermarkets to restaurant chains, are coming up,' said Chiradeep Roygupta, manager, Big Bazaar, Rukanpura (adjacent to Keshav Palace).

Roygupta cited the theory of huge sale of buckets from his store to support the survey's findings that people are shifting to western Patna. The development in western Patna, particularly beyond Digha-Danapur canal, picked up broadly after the late 90s. Before that, the area was mostly barren land, waterlogged throughout the year.

The construction boom over the last decade not only made this part of the city the only available space for large-scale residential development but also created huge commercial spaces with low rentals. 'Rents for commercial space in this part of the city are comparatively much lower than in other parts of the city. In fact, there is not much commercial space left in other parts of the city,' Roygupta said.

As of now, most areas in western Patna fall under Danapur Nizamat municipal council. Forty wards fall under the council. According to 2011 census, the total population of Danapur municipal council is around 1.60 lakh.

Eatery owners echoed claims of increasing demands in western Patna markets.

Laddo Gopal owner Mahendra Kumar said: 'People from this part of the city did not have many options till a couple of years ago. But now, it is this supply gap that everyone is trying to cash in on. We already had a shop at Ashiana Mor and our new outlet is going to be inaugurated in the same area tomorrow.'

Residents, too, are delighted at the burgeoning market. 'Till a few years ago, we had to go to central parts of the city, like Boring Road and Dak Bunglow, to meet most of our shopping requirements. There were hardly any good restaurants here. But now, most things are available at our doorstep. Till a few months ago, I used to buy grocery from Big Bazaar at P&M Mall in Patliputra. But now, the same store is just a km from home,' said Ashiana Nagar resident Abhinav Kumar.

Better road, finally

Residents of Ashiana-Digha Road have another reason to rejoice. The road construction department has decided to undertake repair work on this road after four years.

'We were waiting for quite some time for the ongoing canal cover project along Ashiana-Digha road to be completed but the matter got litigated. Only because of a small 30m stretch, the road is not being handed over to us. We have decided to start repair of the existing road as it is in bad condition,' said an officer in the new capital wing of road construction department.

The stretch of Ashiana-Digha Road between Ashiana Mor and Rajeev Nagar Mor is at present, a commuters' nightmare due to delay of over five years in execution of the project envisaging construction of concrete box cover over a 1.85km drain running along this road.