Bangalore market project stalled after 17 years, one tower sits empty

The Bangalore Development Authority has handed back the incomplete Jayanagar market redevelopment to the Bengaluru South City Corporation after completing only one of four planned towers, leaving the project in limbo 17 years after a fire accident triggered the reconstruction effort.

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar told the ongoing Karnataka Legislature Session that BDA and BSCC must jointly decide the project's future, ruling out penalties for the contractor since shops in the old building were never vacated and handed over.

Completed tower lies largely empty

The redeveloped tower one stands six floors high but remains commercially unviable, with traders reporting sharp business declines. Jayaram B.K., a Jayanagar Traders' Association member who lost his vegetable shop in the 2009 fire, now operates from a 60 sq. ft. unit on the first floor—less than half his previous 140 sq. ft. space. "There is absolutely no business even on the first floor," he said.

All shops on the second floor remain shuttered, while floors three through six stand completely vacant with stairway access barricaded.

Traders push renovation over redevelopment

The traders' association is demanding renovation of the fire-damaged original structure rather than further tower construction. "The civic body's own structural engineers have given reports that the building is safe," Jayaram said, arguing that new towers would replicate tower one's commercial failure and cause civic body losses.

Legislators cite safety concerns

Jayanagar BJP MLA C.K. Ramamurthy, who raised the issue in the Legislature, urged the government to complete all three remaining towers, suggesting Public Private Partnership if funds are unavailable. He pointed to deteriorating conditions in the abandoned sections: "Parts of the market were destroyed in the fire and now the abandoned ones have become a den for anti-social activities like drug abuse, etc. There was even a murder there," he said.

Corporation eyes office space instead

BSCC Commissioner K.N. Ramesh disclosed the corporation is allocating tower one's upper floors—third through sixth—to private firms for offices. The BSCC is in arbitration discussions with BDA regarding the previous contractor and may either self-develop the remaining towers or repurpose the land for its own headquarters.

The corporation has sought land in Banashankari for its office, but the Revenue Department had already allotted that site to other departments, leaving it undeveloped. "If this doesn't fructify, we are thinking of using the remaining Jayanagar market land to build our new office," Ramesh said.

Source: The Hindu