Coimbatore: Afraid of losing customers in the Christmas and Pongal season because of the ongoing road work, shop owners on DB Road have appealed the city corporation to complete the model road project at the earliest.
They said the business, which had been dull since February when the road work began, had come to a standstill now as the shops were not accessible to the public.
On Thursday morning, owner of Yaminee Kids Dinesh Bhandia posted on Namma Kovai WhatsApp group, which has general public and government officials as members, that the project had hit hundreds of business establishments on the road very badly.
“Footfalls started dropping from February when the road work began. It became nil during the lockdown. Since the road is dug up, our shops are not accessible to the customers. So, our businesses have not recovered. And we are paying huge rent, salary to our staff and bank interests. We may go bankrupt soon,” he said.
M Edwin, founder of Footloose Dance School that is located on the road, said Dinesh’s post was 100% true. “Business is severely affected, because it is impossible to drive through the stretch. With access to the road remaining blocked for the past couple of weeks, we ourselves find it hard to enter our establishments. Then, how will the customers or students turn up?”
City corporation officials had initially committed to completing the 1.2km stretch from Sukrawarpet Road Junction to TV Swamy Road Junction by October-end.