Mall culture leaves chaos in its wake

Future shock
The Hindu
The new mall culture seems to throw the city traffic out of gear, more so during weekends. Do we have a solution?


YOU PARK your vehicle and head towards a street filled with shops, selling things inconsequential to those that burn a hole in your wallet. You walk the length and breadth of the criss-crossing streets to shop, and then you walk some more to find some place to sit and some more to get back to your parked vehicle.

Wading through
Between all this, you balance your loaded shopping bags even as you are jostling through the milling crowds. And of course, you also need to safeguard your life and limb to prevent getting run over by the numerous vehicles as you elbow your way through.
The scene appears familiar? Well, this could soon be one from the past if the city sees more of the new shopping malls situated enticingly in prime locations to lure the customer. They go by the names of The Forum, Bangalore Central, Sigma, and Garuda. But they are just the beginning. If the licences issued are anything to go by, this city will be seeing many more of them.

Says Suresh Singaravelu, CEO, The Forum: "when there is increased purchasing power, opportunities to spend should be available. It is important to design for affluence. Otherwise money could be spent negatively, which may not be economically productive. Having malls in strategic locations close to points of consumption is one way of designing for affluence and ensuring productive expenditure that will sustain this income generation."

Choked roads
But what about its effect on our already strained infrastructure? The choking of roads in and around The Forum and Bangalore Central on weekends is no more news. Are the roads in the city structured to take this extra strain, especially in critical junctions? One wonders how Cunningham Road would fare when the Sigma Mall becomes operational later this year.
And what happens when there will be 11 theatres in The Forum and four in Sigma. Can the respective roads take that extra strain, especially on weekends?
The footfall at The Forum during weekends is 50,000. It is 34,000 at Bangalore Central. And it is 17,000 at Sigma.

According to Singaravelu, "the theatres will not increase the footfall significantly, maybe another couple of thousands, and not more. It is the same crowd which will be moving to that section."
But what about parking facilities? Are they geared to handle this kind of crowd or does the parking spill to adjacent roads, thus clogging them? Says Singaravelu: "Currently we have 900, plus an additional 200 parking facility. Added to this, we have plans to create more. So far we have managed. Only on a few occasions we had to turn away people, because the parking was full. The additional facility we are creating will take care of the theatre parking."

"We have a 180 car parking facility. We are looking at increasing this further, by resorting to a multi-layered mechanised car parking system. Currently, customers are parking elsewhere and walking up, because the parking is full," says B. Muralidharan, Head Mall Business, Pantaloons, Bangalore Central. Says Madhusudan Jhingan, Vice President Marketing, Sigma: "We have a 320 car parking facility, but are seriously looking at various options to increase this."
Wouldn't it be better to have malls of this nature located away from the city so that the congestion will be minimal? Says Singaravelu: "What is the point of having increased purchasing power if I have to access a remote place to spend it? Malls are meant to be in the heart of the city. What is required is for the infrastructure to be planned accordingly."

What does K. Jothiramalingam, BMP Commissioner, have to say about these fast mushrooming malls at vantage points all over the city? Did they envisage this problem when the licences were issued? Does he have a solution for relieving the congestion on these already clogged roads? Would more licences be given for more such ventures within the city?
No powers

"According to the 2003 building by-law, if the building confirms to the by-law, the Corporation does not have the discretionary powers to deny the licence. As for giving licences for theatres, there is an act called Cinematography Act, which does not come under BMP. They have to take into consideration your concern. With regards to parking, there is a major problem and to ease this, we are creating multi-level car parking facilities in as Magrath Road, J.C. Road, and Chikpet."

Besides parking and ensuing congestion, how are these malls geared to handle emergencies? Says Singaravelu: "The Forum has the most advanced fire detection system compared to any public building in this city." Similarly, both Muralidharan and Jinghan claim to have installed the state-of-the-art fire detection system in their respective malls to meet any emergency.
These malls also house large food courts. What about the plastic waste generated in these food courts? "We are against the use of plastic as we are aware of their harmful effects.

At the Forum, reusable plates and cutlery are used in the food court," says Singaravelu. "We will soon be switching over to reusable tableware as it is eco-friendly. Currently, the plates used are bio-degradable," says Muralidharan. "We are certainly pushing for the use of eco-friendly bio-degradable products. We are likely to use crockery in place of plastic disposables," says Jinghan.
Traffic congestion or otherwise, malls appear to be the emerging future trend.
NANDHINI SUNDAR