Indore's Rajwada Suffocates Ahead Of Diwali: 1.5 Lakh People An Hour, Traffic Jams And Parking Crisis
· Free Press Journal
Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Heading to Rajwada to shop? Set aside two to three extra hours, and carry your patience. I rode in to see for myself. What I found was not a bazaar but a siege.
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FROM GROUND ZERO
Past Narsingh Bazaar, my bike dropped to 3 to 5 km an hour. Horns blared from every direction, and nobody knew whom they were honking at. The Cloth Market lane alone took 30 minutes. A man beside me switched off his engine, stared at the sky and gave up. Another kept revving, as if the machine could shout the jam away.
Somehow I reached Rajwada through Khajuri Bazaar. Shopkeepers have swallowed the footpaths, and 5 to 7 feet beyond them, tiny stalls have sprung up. Bikes and pedestrians were squeezed through whatever sliver remained. Women clutched bags to their chests, parents gripped their children's wrists, and the elderly stood frozen, with no way forward and no way back. Around the Rajwada rotary, stalls stand in random disorder, and slipping through is like threading a needle in a storm.
Bikes banned in broad daylight
Only two-wheelers are normally allowed here. By afternoon the crowd swelled so much that even bikes were banned for two hours.
In the narrow lanes of the Sarafa, cloth and utensil markets, people walked shoulder to shoulder, sweat and exhaustion on every face. Bikers stood helpless, with nowhere to park and nowhere to go. Had the stalls been set up properly, shopping would have been a pleasure, not a punishment.
100 more men on duty, nothing changed
Police say 20 to 25 personnel usually manage these markets, but 100 extra were deployed for the festival. I saw no difference. They blew whistles and nudged bikes forward, and that was all. Rules were flouted openly even at crossings. Worse, many parkings sat empty, yet no policeman directed anyone there and not a single display board was put up.
Drivers kept circling the jam, burning petrol and patience.
'Without more parking, no relief'
Additional DCP Traffic Santosh Kol said the biggest problem is parking. Things will improve only with enough parking and easy access to it. With over 1.5 lakh vehicles and people passing through every hour, traffic is bound to crawl.
Half an hour lost in Ranipura
Coming from Palasia, I crossed the signals at Indraprastha Chauraha and the High Court tri-junction in two attempts. Vehicles slowed from Regal tri-junction onwards. Ranipura was the worst: just 500 metres via Riverside to Sanjay Setu took nearly half an hour. Riders around me checked their watches, cursed under their breath and stared at the endless line ahead.
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Two policemen each handled Sanjay Setu and Nandlalpura Chauraha. Ten were posted between Yashwant Niwas Road and Malganj Chauraha, yet two-way traffic kept the jam alive. From Patel Pratima to Raj Mohalla Chauraha, vehicles simply inched along, as if the road itself had given up.
7 parkings, 2,925 vehicles, each full
Free Press checked the 7 parkings within an 8 km radius.
Subhash Chowk (nearest): 700 bikes, 140 cars. Full, with drivers circling outside.
Khajuri Bazaar smart parking (300 m): 500 bikes. Better, but hidden in a lane, so few know it exists.
Bajaj Khana Chowk (500 m): 180 bikes, 25 cars.
Fruit Market new parking (650 m): 500 bikes, 300 cars.
Sanjay Setu open parking (850 m): Only 50 bikes and 30 cars had parked.
Prem Sukh Talkies (2 km): 300 vehicles, but a half-hour walk to Rajwada.
Malharganj Smart Parking-2 (1.2 km): 200 bikes, packed full. Returning to the market is an ordeal.