The decades-old market set for a makeover

Ranchi, Oct. 31: High Glitz and GEL Church complex, beware. Your simple cousin, Sainik Bazar, is getting ready to give you all competition.

A prominent landmark on Main Road and a popular shopping address for budget prices, Sainik Bazar or Jawan Bhavan, owned by the Sainik Kalyan directorate under the state home department, will soon get a much-needed facelift.

The home department, that failed to attract bidders in its earlier effort, has already invited fresh tenders for repair and reconstruction of the market’s outer premises.

“We have a few plans for the market’s makeover. These will be put in place in phases,” said Col. A.P. Singh, director of Jawan Bhavan-cum-Sainik Bazar. “Urgent repair works have been pending for quite some time. It includes rebuilding the boundary wall and re-fixing the barbed wire fencing, painting glazed windows and fixing gates and railings within and outside the market,” he added.

Sources said the bidding process would be kept open till November 22. A board of officers will take a final decision by November 25. The repairs are to be completed within one-and-a-half-month from the date of finalising the tender.

Built in the early ’90s to generate income for welfare of former army officers and their families, Sainik Bazar houses 150 shops, of which around 35 are reserved for army personnel while the rest is leased to private traders.

Known for being a hub of clothes and fashion accessories, the two-decade-old market seems to have lost its popularity over the past few years, thanks to new-age malls coming up all around.

Singh, however, did not agree that the market was doing poor business, but admitted highrises in the vicinity had dwarfed its existence.

“Sainik Bazar still retains its old appeal because it caters to the middle class who can’t afford to buy products from up-market shops,” he claimed.

Located at a low-lying area, Sainik Bazar offers little scope for window-shopping with its parking area at the entrance built on upland — a reason why people passing via Main Road fail to notice it.

The market authorities are mulling on ways to rectify this flaw. “A cinema hall is lying unused to the south of the parking area. We have mooted a proposal to shift the market to that spot. However, the proposal is yet to get the final approval,” said Singh.