NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's order on Thursday asking the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to take action against illegal commercial establishments in the Capital has come as a pleasant surprise to residents living in areas badly affected by uncontrolled growth of shops. But those owning shops and employed in it are a worried lot fearing job loss and major financial losses.

Welcoming the decision, president of Greater Kailash-I RWA Anil Kapur said they have been awaiting this order for years now.

"Ours is one of the residential areas that has seen illegal commercialisation on a massive scale leading to a plethora of civic problems. We face traffic jams, encroachment on public land, illegal squatting and crisis of power and water on a daily basis as pressure on civic amenities has increased manifold. Now after the order we can hope to get back peace and tranquillity in residential areas," he added.

Though the court has asked to remove illegal shops from residential areas on 229 roads in the city having a width of more than 80 feet, gradually the entire Capital is likely to be covered. The areas that will be covered include Greater Kailash, Green Park, Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, Hauz Khas, South Extension, Malviya Nagar, Munirka, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Rajender Nagar, Naraina, Patel Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Kingsway Camp, Model Town, Laxmi Nagar, Patparganj, Naveen Shahdara, Wazirpur and Preet Vihar.

However, the order has left traders a worried lot as they feel that they would be rendered jobless, and to take stock of the situation and decide the future course of action, the Confederation of Indian Traders' Associations called a meeting in the evening.

Its general secretary Praveen Khandelwal said: "It seems the MCD officials failed to present a true picture of Delhi and problems people are facing due to lack of government's initiatives in the field of property development. Such large scale action could render almost 25 lakhs people unemployed. We will approach the Centre and the Delhi Government to immediately intervene in the matter."

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