Guards, security personnel's misbehaviour with visitors on DB City mall premises in Bhopal!

The complaint of misbehaviour by security guards and staff at Hypercity store which is located inside DB Mall at Bhopal should be taken seriously.

Legislator was mistreated by guards

The reputation of a brand gets sullied by such incidents. Congress MLA Pachilal Medha was at the cash counter when his five year old son innocently picked up a packet of biscuit which his father didn't notice but was seen by security personnel.

They harassed the MLA, separated him from his family, took him to a room where he was kept confined for more than an hour and even made him sign an apology letter. Though he said that he would pay a penalty and was ready to apologise, they mistreated him.

The incident is not the first such case. When DB Mall was opened, everybody had high hopes as it was one of the best shopping malls in India, spread over a huge area.

It functions well and has enlivened the city but there are issues with the staff.

1. They feel that as Dainik Bhaskar group owns the mall, no one can take any action against them.

2. The staff gangs up, particularly, on first floor and bullies people. The worst is that whenever motor route is changed, they don't inform and when the person takes the earlier route, the guards' tone is extremely rough.

3. The security personnel are mostly from the region where people speak harshly and use a rural dialect unlike Bhopal. They use 'tum/tu/aao/jaao', which is upsetting.

4. There should be training for guards and they should be able to speak politely, without any arrogance to the citizens visiting the mall.

5. There should not be separate sets of rules for the Well-dressed sophisticated people and youngsters with body piercing on one hand, while mistreatment with the lesser mortals who don't dress fancily or come out on two-wheelers.

When the mall was opened, we had welcomed it. We hope that it will improve the conduct of security guards and set higher standards.

DB City Mall: First shopping mall opens in Bhopal

The Dainik Bhaskar group's DB City Mall has finally opened after facing numerouscontroversies.

No doubt, the grand structure and the imposing building adds to the skyline of the capital of Madhya Pradesh.

Till now, an important town like Bhopal that has a population of around 20 lakh or 2 million, had no major shopping mall.

Its one of the biggest malls, spread over vast area on Arera Hills near MP Nagar, in the heart of Bhopal.

Controversies and Corruption

But the construction of mall has been mired in controversies. Hundreds of shanties in the Sanjay Nagar slum were shifted to outskirts of Bhopal, to clear the land for this project. The poor residents had to leave their homes and were evicted to a faraway place.

There were also irregularities in transfer and allocation of land to DB corp. Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar certainly has clout and helpful politicians & bureaucrats came to the group's help. It was alleged that land was allotted by violating norms and the state government suffered loss of Rs 14 crore in stamp duty alone.

Accidents and Deaths

Many accidents had also taken place during the construction. Labourers died and got
years and got injured in mishaps in the last 2-3 years. There were other several other controversies also.
Bhaskar's rival newspaper, Patrika, published a series of stories exposing the corruption and large-scale irregulatiries in the land deal and construction of the mall. But a new entrant in Bhopal, Patrika, still has less clout in the state.

Food joints, Leadings brands, Cineplex, McDonald burger!

For shoppers of Bhopal, it is certainly good news. The city, at last, has a mall. So what if hundreds of poor had to abandon their homes! The rich, upwardly mobile class and the middle-class citizens would have fun.

Good brands will be available. Food chains including McDonald have already opened shop in this mall. So have your burget, watch movies at the separate screens in the upcoming cineplex in the mall and forget the rest. After all, we are immune to land grabbings and corruption.

Perhaps, on this note, Bhopalis can welcome DB Mall and its Shopper's Stop.