Vehicles are prohibited inside the market but some visitors often park their bikes there in the absence of proper facilities outside. This is threatening the spacious ambiance of the popular shopping place.

"New market is my favourite place to shop. I have been regularly coming here for the last twenty years. Sometimes I just visit it with family and friends for snacks. Unfortunately, my feeling of safety was shattered in August this year when a reckless motorcycle rider hit me when I was walking in one of the lanes," said Rehana Akter, a housewife from Azimpur.

"I have not had an accident so far. But the way motorcycles move around these days, an accident can happen at any moment. It also takes away the enjoyment of shopping here," said Rebeka Sultana, a resident student of Dhaka University's Bangladesh-Kuwait Friendship (Moitree) Hall.

Kabir Ahmed, who had parked his motorcycle inside, said people like him had little option.

"I am forced to violate the rules as the parking facilities for bikes here is very poor. There is only a small and dirty place to keep motorcycles"

There is a concrete shade for parking bikes and cycles near gate number 1 adjacent to a public toilet. But that area is mostly occupied by beggars and drug-addicts.

"We forbid bikers from entering the New Market but they ignore our request. Sometimes we are threatened and quarrels often break out," said Masud, a security guard of the market.

"The New Market is a property of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC). We have requested the DCC several times to build a new parking area. Desperate, we constructed a parking spot on our own in 1999 but the authorities demolished it in 2001," said Shirajuddin Ahmed Chistey, president of the Dhaka New Market Bonik Samity (businessmen's association).

"Nevertheless we have assigned 30 security guards to maintain security and discipline during the month of Ramadan," Chistey added.