The Hindu : New Delhi News : Long wait for Janpath lane shopkeepers

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Monday, Aug 18, 2008
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New Delhi

Long wait for Janpath lane shopkeepers

Manisha Jha

NDMC yet to prepare budget estimate for the market project

In-principle approval to relocate shops in October 2007
NDMC says their are problems with the proposed design

NEW DELHI: Almost 10 months after getting the conceptual approval by the New Delhi Municipal Council, the project for redevelopment of Janpath mini market including Janpath tehbazari tharas is still hanging fire.

The civic body has failed to prepare the budget estimate and implement the project following infighting between the different market associations involved and their reservations on the shop size under the project’s new design.

As per the resolution passed by the civic body in October 2007, the NDMC gave in-principle approval to relocate 57 shops from Janpath’s old mini market and new mini market and about 100 tehbazari tharas to the surface parking area between the present location of the market and the Jeevan Bharti building.

Uniform-size shops

The main highlight of the project involved providing uniform-size shops with uniform-size signboards at the new location as has been done in Janpath’s Tibetan Market.

However, Janpath Lane Small Shop-Keepers Traders’ Association member Biswanath Roy charged: “The NDMC has been deliberately holding up implementation of the redevelopment project of Janpath mini market as it shares vested interests with some of the big stall owners in the market who are against shifting as they do not want their present big sized stalls to be turned into uniform smaller size after relocation as envisaged by the project.

“When the proposed redeveloped project model was shown to us, the tehbazari allottees’ area shown was not satisfactory as their present position with wooden box and awning had not been depicted in the model. We, therefore, want the civic body to provide us with a copy of the drawing and project design before shifting us as we are worried that we may be deprived of facilities presently available to us.”

The civic body, however, maintains that the project is unable to take off owing to the problems with the proposed design of the redeveloped market.

An NDMC official said: “The process of preparing the budget estimate and getting the final approval of the civic body for the project is yet to be initiated by us as going by our proposed design we would have to uproot several trees at the new location which is not possible. Though we have sent a request to the forest department for the same, we are thinking of improvising our design which is causing the delay.”

Clarifying the issue of “misleading” the shopkeepers on the final size of their shops in the new location, he added: “We would provide shops of the same size as we provided them initially at their present location. However, if the shop keepers have encroached upon public land to increase their present shop area, then they cannot expect to be given bigger shop area on that basis.

“The entire idea behind the project itself is to make the redeveloped market encroachment free and pedestrian friendly.”

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