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The thought of travelling along the Nawabpur Road through Bangshal to go to Banglabazar would once shudder many. A rickshaw trip or walking by the footpath amid crowds and stifling traffic snarl-up eventually proved a nightmare to many. It was the common spectacle even over a couple of decades ago. Those days appear to have vanished for good. Going to the older parts of Dhaka up to Sadarghat or Badamtoli on the bank of the Buriganga has long become free of the earlier travails. The whole area along with the roads has been overhauled. Many can still remember the horrendously jumbled-up mess at the roundabout at the junction of Banglabazar, Sadarghat and Islampur. The newly built Nayabazar Road has taken a great traffic load away.
Upon a revisit to the same area, the place may appear to some completely unknown. The earlier built overpass has been realigned, with pedestrians using it. What is amazing, the area is now completely free of the previous crowd --- with the busy bus terminal shifted to the western and northern sides of the Bahadur Shah Park. The earlier chaotic tempo-stand has become orderly. A new one comprising jeep services beside the post office connects the Jurain area.
In short, the greater Banglabazar-Laxmibazar-Patuatuli has undergone a complete makeover in the last few decades. In spite of these renovations, businesses and residences from the area's neighbourhoods in remarkable numbers have started shifting to the relatively modern parts of Dhaka. This trend has affected the business operations which have thrived in the area in the last one century. In reality, they are inseparable from the area. They include the spice wholesalers at Farashganj, the gold ornament making and trade at Islampur, and the country's largest printing and publication hub in greater Banglabazar. In the last two decades, a new wholesale kitchen market has grown in Dhaka's Karwanbazar area. Most of the people from the middle-class areas in northern Dhaka are reluctant to visit the wholesale kitchen markets in Old Dhaka due to the product variety and quality they find in the areas close to them. Like these markets, lots of fabric and clothing merchant enterprises have shifted to the glitzy shopping malls in the 'new Dhaka'.
However, the business area most affected by the pull of the newly emerged commercial activity is the publication sector. Banglabazar has long been synonymous with book printing and publication. It is indisputably the largest centre of newly published books. To Bangladeshi authors, all roads of the book publication industry invariably lead to Banglabazar. This publication hub can claim the credit of bringing to light hundreds of writers. They include the country's major poets, novelists and short story writers --- as well as the younger ones. Many of them later proved their mettle in their respective areas.
Banglabazar publication industry has not shifted to the newer parts of the city. It is still engaged in business in its earlier place. But due to the densely grown publication offices, a number of publishers have partly relocated to the city's Purana Paltan area. Owing to its being centrally located, it is convenient for writers to remain in touch with the publishers. The same applies partly to the printing presses as well. However, few old publishers have yet to mull fully shifting to Purana Paltan. Many still have their printing establishments in place back in Banglabazar.
It's also true smaller publishers are a little scared of a wholesale relocation of the industry to a completely unknown area. They are also afraid of counting huge expenditures in the shifting job. Their only solace is: the renovated Banglabazar will continue to draw writers to the century-old publication centre for still many years to come.