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SHOPPING

Footloose in Motijheel

Sarwar A Chowdhury
TUesday, 5.30pm.
Nakib-ur Rasul, who works at an insurance company at Dainik Bangla in the Motijheel commercial area, walks out of his office in search of transport to go home. He sees many others like him, lost in the frenzy. Unable to find anything suitable, he heads off on foot towards Motijheel Shapla Chattar.
He decides to make good use of his time and purchase some necessities from the roadside vendors, while he waits for a suitable mode of transportation.
Shortly, he bargains with a hawker and purchases a television remote control for Tk 100. He decides it is a good bargain as the price is reasonable and his remote control at home was also giving him trouble.
He quickly gets caught up and moves on to purchase a pair of trousers from the next vendor. In a little while, he bags a pair forTk 150.
Standing next to Nakib, Mehedi Hasan was looking for some warm clothes for his toddler at home. His purchase was in anticipation for the cold, harsh winter months ahead.
Hasan runs a mobile phone accessory store just outside Dhaka. He commutes often to the capital to stock up on accessories for his store, usually going to the Stadium Market, which is adjacent to Motijheel. When he finds some idle time, he buys some sweaters and T-shirts for his child, as it was on his way to the Kamalapur Railway Station.
Nakib finally hitches a bus ride from Motijheel Shapla Chattar to his home in Jatrabari, while Mehedi takes a rickshaw to the railway station.
This is just another day at the Motijheel to Paltan Avenue, where hundreds of people make a living by selling a variety of products as footpath vendors. Many are daily attracted to the colorful array of shirts, trousers, children's clothing, lungis, shoes and sandals, socks, undergarments, sweaters, tights, gloves, belts, bed sheets, napkins, towels, sunglasses, spectacles, wristwatches, cosmetics, mobile phone accessories, electronics and electrical items, showpieces, books and magazines, kitchen utensils, CDs, DVDs, the list seems endless.
Additionally, there is huge demand for the perishable items on display there, such as, deep fried finger foods, bananas, cucumbers, pineapple, vegetablesandfish.
Who are the people who mainly flock to such a destination?
Several low- and middleincome family groups prefer to carry out their purchases from the footpath markets. They enjoy the options available and also the reasonable prices charged.
Motijheel being the commercial hub of the country, there are thousands of corporate offices of banks, government and semigovernment entities, insurance companies, leasing and finance institutions, and non-financial institutions, where thousands of low-paid employees are working. They often do not have the privilege to shop from the glittering, high-rise, modern shopping malls.
Besides, hundreds of people commute to Motijheel on any given day for work related and other purposes. The traffic congestion in that part of the city is also most unforgiving. So, people find it convenient to complete their shopping needs from the footpath vendors, on their way back home. Products are most reasonably priced, after only a moderate amount of bargaining.
Pantus Das, who works for a privately-run textile commodities importing company at
Pallan, says he often buys necessities from the sidewalks on his way back home from office. “J save on big bucks when I buy from the street vendors, rather than getting the same commodities from the shopping complexes."
Majority of the items available for sale are imported from China and the remaining few arc sourced from local wholesale markets from both inside and outside Dhaka.
Mir Hossain, a vendor who has been doing businesses on the footpaths of Motijheel for the last three years, says, "I bought about 200 shirts from the Islampur wholesale market, where both Chinese and local garments are available."
Hossain says he will get around Tk 25,000 by selling the shirts, which includes a profit of about Tk 5000- Tk 6000.
Mohammad Kamruzzaman, another footpath vendor, sells lungis and says he buys the traditional clothing item from the wholesale markets of Narsingdi district.
In all the hustle and bustle of the street market, there exists the problem of extortion. Every footpath vendor has to pay a daily lump-sum amount to the local extortionists; otherwise they face risks of eviction. Some hawkers even reveal that the extortion is mostly conducted with the assistance of some city corporations and police officials.
The underlying point, however, lies in the fact that the footpaths have become completely inaccessible for pedestrians. Crowds spill out to the streets, causing traffic jams, especially during office hours.
Despite obvious problems, the street vendors are immensely popular among those who look to low-priced goods at a convenient location.
sarwar@thedailystar.net