Bokaro’s first shopping mall that was inaugurated at Sector III-C on Monday. Picture by Pankaj Singh

So long, Bokaro township had been doing without a mall or a multiplex. But when it did join the bandwagon, it beat its posh cousins.

The steel hub has become the first city of Jharkhand to boast a PVR multiplex that has come up at a glitzy shopping mall, the first in Bokaro. Bokaro steel plant’s chief executive officer Anutosh Maitra inaugurated the G+4 shopping mall, built by a clutch of businessmen at a cost of over Rs 60 crore, at Sector III-C, City Centre, on Monday. The three-screen PVR property on the third floor will open next month.

Called The Bokaro Mall, the shopping address sprawls across a vast area of 3.50 lakh square feet and boasts 153 shops of big Indian and international brands like Lee, Levis, Wrangler, Reebok, Turtle, Allen Solly, Puma, Reliance Trends, Adidas, Reid and Taylor, Raymond, Peter England, Digjam, and Gini and Jony.

Retail chain Big Bazaar has also set shop.

A 70-room hotel, The Inn, on the top floor, a cafeteria, restaurants and food court are the other attractions.

Parking will be not a problem either as there is space for over 200 cars.

“This shopping mall will not only cater to Bokaro town and its nearby areas, but also the industrial city of Bermo. People from these areas will no longer have to go to Dhanbad or Ranchi to buy products of international brands,” said Dharmendra Jain, director, The Bokaro Mall.

A huge crowd had gathered at Sector III to catch a glimpse of the inaugural bash.

“I am excited about the multiplex and can’t wait to watch a movie here. The condition of single-screen theatres in Bokaro (only two exist at the moment) is abysmal. Families have nowhere to go to catch a movie,” said Dipendra Kumar Srivastava, a commerce graduate.

Neeraj Rastogi, an engineer who works for Bokaro steel plant, will no longer have to take his girlfriend to Dhanbad to shop or view a movie.

“We had to travel 50km to visit a mall or multiplex in Bokaro. But now, Bokaro has its own mall and multiplex and we won’t have to waste our time and money any more,” he added.