Developing Punjab: The Mall Way

By - Avinav Malhotra

Take a trip in and around Chandigarh. I do every other day and though there is currently only one fully functional mall in the tri-city and another one half open, one can not miss the construction work going on at full swing. Big beautiful buildings pulling themselves out of the earth left right and centre. An unofficial count says, 11 new malls and multiplexes (3 in Panchkula, 4 in Chandigarh and 2 in Mohali) are coming up in the near future. That makes it all the more places for people to hang out, but even by that standard – “eleven”! Now, that by any means, for a city like Chandigarh is a huge number!

And this trend is not restricted to Chandigarh. Other big and emerging towns in
Punjab are being mall-ed (pun intended). The first one was Ludhiana. With its huge export business booming and money pouring, it was the first town to start on the mall road. With a few in function and at least 15 more in the pipeline, one really wonders how big the pipeline could be!!

Chandigarh, as I have said is well on its way to becoming a mall-haven. Next to Chandigarh, Mohali is being developed as the face of modern Punjab. And, the face of modern Punjab has a lot of malls. Zirakpur is coming up fast as a residential and commercial city. Amritsar also has the multi-nationals interested. So have other cities like Patiala and Jalandhar.

The question why Punjab is attracting such high levels of investment is easily answered. Punjab has a higher consumer spending, than the national average. Add to that, a high per-capita income, high education standards, loads of vacant land, lack of such ventures and a lot of government interest. With all of this considered, the reason why this question is even asked seems irrelevant!

In India however, there is always another side. We are not half as good at answering as we are at questioning. That is why the malls have found adversaries. There are those who oppose this sector of growth. They have found their own reasons and if you come to think of it, these are worth a thought. That the agricultural land owners are giving up their lands for truckloads of money, that the petty shopkeepers are losing their livelihood and that the cost of living is going up, are all very valid points. But this dispute can only be resolved by the govt. when they set up guidelines and promote this school of retail and leisure, without letting it grow into the cruel demon it is projected to.

Ultimately it comes down to this. Builders, build your money-hungry, consumer-friendly air-conditioned, all-in-one convenience super-marts. Its all fine by us Punjabis as long as you don’t pull down our houses and even make us pay the bulldozer bills. Beware: Its not that easy to perplex us. Or should I say per-multiplex!

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