Chandni Chowk traders protest encroachment, neglect; plan daily hour-long marches till Aug 14
Members of the traders' group said the government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had failed to enforce a series of Supreme Court and Delhi High Court orders, allowing the situation to deteriorate.
The group has announced that it will continue to hold one-hour protest marches every day until August 14 unless corrective action is taken.
'A number of court orders have been passed since 2001 — on clearing footpath encroachments, maintaining the area, restricting non-motorised and motorised traffic at specific hours — but none of them has been implemented,' said Sanjay Bhargava, president of the Sarv Vyapar Mandal.
He said the courts had made the police and the MCD responsible for upkeep, including maintaining sanitation, preventing illegal construction, stopping unauthorised hawkers from operating, and enforcing traffic restrictions on loading and unloading. 'But all of these directions are being ignored,' he said.
A redevelopment and beautification project was carried out on the main Chandni Chowk Avenue between the Red Fort and Fatehpuri Mosque from 2019 to 2021. However, a HT spot check last month found the stretch littered with garbage, crowded with rickshaws, vendors, and parked vehicles, and occupied by motorised traffic despite restrictions. A visit on Monday showed no improvement.
'We are marching with Indian flags and black flags — the black flags symbolise the corruption we want to be free of by August 14,' said Ajay Kumar Mittal, secretary of the Sarv Vyapar Mandal.
'On Tuesday, we will march to the Town Hall from my shop. The next day, we will head to Fatehpuri Chowk for a sit-in. Each protest will last only an hour. We're doing this for the customers, and do not want to disturb the area's peace,' Bhargava said.
Bharatiya Janata Party Delhi spokesperson and general secretary of the Chandni Chowk Nagrik Manch Praveen Shankar Kapoorsaid that he has demanded action from Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta and mayor Raja Iqbal Singh on the issue
'From August 9 to 15, during Independence Day week, we will not hold any protests, sit-ins or symbolic Gandhigiri demonstrations. No one can deny that the situation is bad, but we do not protest on national holidays,' he said.
He said Chandni Chowk MP Praveen Khandelwal will lead a Tiranga Yatra from the Red Fort to Fatehpuri Chowk on August 11.
The MCD did not respond for comments.
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