Staying or going? Stop-start bid to take Ghaziabad’s many weekly markets off roads

Ghaziabad: Opinion is divided on whether they are more of a boon or bane. They are among top causes of traffic jams in Ghaziabad. But regulars also deem them an indispensable element of their week. Yes, they squat right in the middle of the road but also bring almost to the doorstep nearly everything that a householder needs. Needles and pajama strings to fresh saag and fruits, you name it and they have it.
For decades, weekly markets – which are revolving flea markets that have fixed days at fixed places in fixed localities and are known by the day of the week they appear on, Sombazar on Monday, Mangal Bazar on Tuesday and so on – have been regular features across Ghaziabad. The practice began in the old city but extended to newer townships.
Their provenance was in road corners, a few carts that would visit once a week. But the convenience they offered institutionalised them as weekly markets that wove themselves into the fabric of urban life in the city, growing in size and variety. There was, however, no overlooking the glaring anomaly of these friendly flea markets – they simply took over roads, blatantly violating traffic and civic rules.
And in a city that has already seen much of its roadside fall to encroachers, and therefore struggles with traffic management, weekly markets made driving even tougher.
Lately, the utility vs disruption talk around weekly markets gained steam after the police, recognising that the practice of occupying roads cannot be allowed to go on in a city with growing population pressure, undertook a survey and began relocating the markets to places away from roads.
The survey, ordered by the police commissioner, found there are 49 weekly markets that set up shop – 30 of these in the main city area and 19 in the newer trans-Hindon towns that are closer to Delhi. Subsequently, police relocated 19 weekly markets.
Police's decision to relocate weekly markets from roadsides to an adjacent open ground, benefiting local residents, was overturned when the Chief Secretary visited Ghaziabad earlier this month and informed the media that the authority to relocate markets rests with the town planner, not the police force.
Chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said police do not have the authority to remove markets and it's the civic body's job to do so. After that, some of the weekly markets that were removed from areas like Vaishali, Vijay Nagar and Indirapuram have begun to return.
Suniti Chaudhary, who lives in Vasundhara, wonders why a police move that made perfect civic sense was stopped. "There is a serious traffic problem every Wednesday because of the market in Sector 7 that captures more than half the space of the road to put up stalls and benches. People come to buy things, so there is very little space left for traffic," said Suniti.
Deepak Kumar, a resident of Amrapali Village, concedes they create traffic problems but says the convenience they bring to people cannot be overlooked. "Residents get vegetables and other things at cheap rates easily, so we need such markets in the locality. But they should not be roads. This creates heavy traffic jams. Recently, I needed to visit a doctor whose chamber is just a kilometre from my place, but because of the jam, it took me almost an hour to get there," he said.
Alok Kumar, founder of AOA federation, said the weekly markets also leave behind tonnes of garbage. "This garbage is not immediately cleared and the area becomes a den for stray animals. It's a major hazard for residents, not to mention the foul smell emanating from the rotten waste," he said. "Weekly markets need to be organised. Police should stand by their decision. Most residents are happy with the markets being taken out of the roads," he said.
Mala Tiwari, a resident of Indirapuram, agreed. "Walls adjacent to the weekly markets have turned red from spit. Sewer lids are broken and the smell from drains is unbearable. So the authorities need to take action for sure," she said.
Police said they took up the survey because they had received many complaints about weekly markets disrupting traffic. CP Ajay Kumar Mishra told TOI, "Our aim is to provide residents with a proper road to travel, which is why we were shifting markets from the roadside to nearby grounds. We are also in talks with the authorities concerned to regularise the markets systematically," he said.
The corporation last week set up a town vending committee to decide the course of weekly markets. A spokesperson for GMC said the corporation would conduct its own survey and formulate a policy. Locations for the temporary markets will also be identified, according to the spokesperson.