Because of easy-to-commute and park role that motorbikes play, shoppers prefer to use this mode of transport, but now find it risky to park for fear of the parts being stolen.

Riders also allege that they have to carry their helmets along, which is an extra burden and weight while shopping. These too, they said would be stolen if kept with the bike.

Shoppers believe that a new parking arrangement for motorbikes will not be made soon as informed by toll collectors. If this happens, it is likely that many such shoppers to New Market might reduce in numbers, they said.

The shed that ensured safe parking for motorcycle users was demolished almost two months back. Since then the slot is used for car parking with no specific place for motorcycle parking.

Ali Hossain, a frequent shopper at New Market said: "A week after the parking was gone, I arrived with my wife to shop at New Market. It took only few seconds for a thief to snatch my helmet away as I got it off my head!"

Other bikers too, said that such incidents of snatching have become a big problem especially to shoppers on travel in motorbikes.

They also added that as the monsoons are approaching, it would not be possible to keep the bikes out in the open.

Motorbike users and parking fee collectors said that the shed has been removed to enable more cars to be parked, fetching higher revenue. The parking fee for a bike is Tk 2 while the fee for each car for two hours is Tk 5.

The fee increases from Tk 5 to 10 if the cars are parked for more than one and half-hours, the collectors added.

Toll collector, Selim Mia said: "We collect a maximum of Tk 350 to 500 a day from bike parking while Tk 7,000 to 8,000 at best is collected daily from the car park." "This is a reason why rent collectors evicted the bike-parking shed," he added.

Mohammed Shafiul Alam, rent collector, Bazar Circle-2 of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), who is in charge of the parking at New Market said that hawkers built a makeshift toilet beside the shed that turned out to be a place for the sale of drugs like Ganja and Heroin.

Mohammed Shahabuddin, ex-secretary of the New Market Malik Shamity agreed with Alam and added that hardly five bikers used the shed, putting to waste a large part of space.

Shafiul Alam added that if bikers start pressing for a parking place, a tin-shed parking could be put up anytime.