NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is all set to target the city's two most famous shopping malls at 1 MG Road and 2 MG Road in Mehrauli that boast outlets by some of the country's leading fashion designers. Though previous attempts to target these two malls failed due to political pressure, but the recent High Court order on commercial establishments in Lal Dora areas seems to have sealed their fate.

"All efforts in the past to take action against these fashion destinations of the city's glitterati failed primarily because the designers and mall owners were well-connected. First we were told to ignore construction of the two illegal malls and later when we tried to book and initiate action against them, pressure was brought from the top to not let it happen," said a senior South zone official.

And when they finally tried to act, the mall owners went to the court and secured a stay, the official said, adding: "It is high time we took action against the two malls as their constructions involve major violations. If we let go of this chance, we might not get another in future to act against them. We are busy preparing sealing and demolition orders, and this coming week we will cover the two properties under our ongoing demolition drive."

While the mall at 1 MG Road came up in 2001, the adjoining sprawling complex on 2 MG Road became operational in 2004. These two shopping destinations of Delhi's elite have outlets of the country's leading designers including Rohit Bal, Mandira Wirk and Anju Modi, while others who have opened stores here sell products of other designers.

Seeing the growing popularity of these two malls, other similar complexes have come up in the area making Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) Road a major traffic bottleneck due to heavy rush of shoppers and unauthorised parking by the roadside. Over the years, almost a dozen malls and complexes have illegally come up on MG Road that fall under Lal Dora area. Similarly, most of the 350-odd Lal Dora villages have witnessed the mushrooming of illegal shopping arcades, with South Delhi being the worst violator.

"Over the years, the Indian fashion industry has come up in a big way. Buying shops in legally built malls and markets is a very costly proposition. So the easy way out is to illegally purchase land from villagers at throw-away prices and then build their own showrooms or boutiques, or take an outlet on cheap rent," the MCD official said, adding that with the Delhi High Court cracking the whip, most designers and other outlet owners were now calling them up to find a way out.

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