New complex near Cauvery Emporium jn

Within a year, the place adjoining Vijaylakshmi Silks and Sarees will house the complex transforming the shopping atmosphere.

Deccan Enterprises, the firm which will build the complex, made the two shops — Highway Stores and Gopuram Silk Sarees — vacate the premises on Friday, two days after it obtained a vacation order from a City court. Two newspaper stalls that were run on the pavement also had to pack up and leave.

The space has now been cleared of every occupation and will hold a commercial complex with a built-up area of 32,000 sq ft within a year. A Narasimhan, one of the 12 partners in the firm, says Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has approved the proposed construction.

The complex will have ample parking space in its cellar. Of course, the service would be charged. But the facility would be available only to visitors.

The site measuring 13,800 sq ft was purchased by the firm in 1986. About five years ago, the owners had to take legal recourse following the refusal of the shopkeepers to vacate the premises. The eviction, however, was not very smooth. Srinivas Murthy, another partner, said the shop owners did not vacate the space despite being told in advance.

“Hence, armed with the court order, we came to evict them,” Murthy said. The owners, along with two court officials and a few policemen, brought along a dozen workers to physically remove all the materials from the shops.

One shopkeeper was paying a rent of Rs 18,000 per month whereas the other was coughing up Rs 15,000. The newspaper stalls had to fork out Rs 50 per day. 

Disagreement, however, exists among the partners of the firm over the nature of the building set to be built. While Narasimhan stressed that it would be a commercial complex, Murthy said the site would hold a mall. Sources in the BBMP also say that the structure approved by the civic agency would be a mall. All the existing structures will be demolished for the construction, set to begin in a month.

The owner of Gopuram Silks, wishing anonymity, said he was apprehensive about the future of his business. “They have promised to give us space in the mall. But I don’t know anything and I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

A roadside textile vendor, Iqbal, has been on M G Road for more than 35 years. He says there is no worry for people like him. “MG Road was a road. Now there is a train. And then a mall. But we will move to another road, if need be. Roads can never throw us out,” he said.

The mall has not been given a name and most of the questions posed to Murthy were replied with ‘nothing has been decided’, which also seems the case regarding the future of the shop owners.