NEW DELHI: Under normal circumstances, if you went shopping in a market complex and lost valuable belongings, you would feel that the chances of getting them back were nil. However, there are many interesting stories from Palika Bazar, located in Connaught Place, of people getting their lost or misplaced things back. Years back, a male member of an Afghan family who went shopping in Palika Bazar Market misplaced his wallet which contained $10,000.
Within minutes, the salesman of the shop where the Afghan man left his purse deposited the same in the office of Palika Bazar Association located in the premises. After half an hour, when the man came looking for the lost money, he was elated to know that it was in safe hands. It was later returned to him.
“For over 3 decades, we have deployed a public mike announcement system where we announce on the mike that our shopkeepers/security guards/members have found a misplaced or lost item in the premises of market and they can collect it from the market office. When we see happy faces of people getting back their misplaced belongings, we get a sense of satisfaction,” says Mahesh Jaitley, vice president of Palika Bazar Shopkeepers Welfare Association.
While Mahesh was talking to the newspaper about these interesting stories, coincidentally, three misplaced or lost items were deposited in the office of market association. One was a bag with new clothes deposited by a shopkeeper, another was an ATM card deposited by a security guard and the third item was a wallet found in the men’s washroom by another person.
“We have found one lost/misplaced wallet of so and so person, one white bag and one ATM of IndusInd Bank, whosoever it belongs to, please collect it from the market association office,” announced Mahesh. Within 10 minutes, two persons came and claimed that the bag belonged to them. After verifying the claim, Jaitley handed over their bag to them.
“I cannot believe this. I have come from Pune to shop here and misplaced my bag which contains news clothes worth more than Rs 7,000. This is amazing. I won’t forget this ever,” said the owner of the bag Sanket Dubey, while thanking the association.
Over the years, many incidents of lost and found have happened in the market. Once, an American man lost his passport, visa etc while he was shopping in the market complex. He was relieved to get back his belongings.
Association chairman Baljeet Singh Kohli said that they reward shopkeepers, security guards and others for their honesty. “Our association gave over Rs 5,000 to that person who returned $10,000 of the Afghan family,” he said.
The body maintains a register of lost and found items and also parcels or posts lost/misplaced items of those owners who have left the city after shopping. Also, if no one makes a claim of certain misplaced/lost deposited items after a certain period of time, they are donated to the NGOs. So, if you are visiting Palika Bazar market and accidentally misplace your belongings, you can contact the office of market association and be rest assured.