Two years after opening, Vijayanagar’s underground air-conditioned bazaar still awaits vendors
Two years after its inauguration, the underground air-conditioned Krishna Devaraya Palike Bazaar in Bengaluru remains largely unoccupied. Local vendor associations are divided over moving into the facility, citing concerns over high rents and potential business losses.
Why it matters
It highlights the challenges of urban planning and the difficulty of transitioning informal street vendors into formal, government-managed infrastructure.
The Krishna Devaraya Palike Bazaar, the city’s first-of-its-kind underground air-conditioned market in West Bengaluru’s Vijayanagar, appears to have no light at the end of the tunnel, with vendors’ associations divided over occupying the shops, two years after its opening.
Modelled on Delhi’s Palika Bazaar, the underground market in the city was built at a cost of ₹13 crore and has 79 shops, several of which have air conditioning. It was inaugurated in August 2024.
Amid the uncertainty over the opening, the bazaar corridor wears a bleak look, with merely four or five shops operating inside. In several parts, the bazaar suffers from poor maintenance. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
While the Bengaluru West City Corporation (BWCC) floated tenders twice to conduct auctions for the underground shops, no street vendors expressed interest in participating, citing high rents and fears of a complete fall in business.
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