Continuing its anti-encroachment drive, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) officials on Wednesday sealed 16 shops in Sadar Bazaar area. There were blatant violations as the shopkeepers had extended their shops till road and had ignored several warnings issued by the civic body. Earlier in June the corporation had sealed around 79 shops in a bid to make one of the city’s oldest markets encroachment-free.
MCG Commissioner Yashpal Yadav said, "Despite several warnings the shop owners didn't mend their ways and were flouting corporation norms. Sadar Bazaar is one of the oldest markets in Gurugram. Visitors face huge discomfort during their market visits or shopping. It was our anti-encroachment drive which will continue in future as well," he said.
The civic body's senior officials held several meetings with Sadar Bazaar market association's representatives and requested the shopkeepers to remove encroachment themselves from in front of their shops.
"The MCG officials also videographed encroached areas and marked the 16 shops where congestion was found. To make it worse was the presence of vendors and street vendors. When the shopkeepers' representatives failed to make Sadar Bazaar encroachment-free, we conducted an anti-encroachment drive and sealed 16 establishments," Yadav said.
During the exercise the corporation team broke ramps and stairs of some shops. They had also pasted notices in front of the shops.
"Many times we have noticed that in case of an emergency such as fire, the disaster management and rescue management teams faced huge problems in reaching the spot on time due to encroachment and congestion as thousands of people visit Sadar Baazar on a daily basis. The fire tenders even could not be entered the market sometimes", the officer added.
"Due to the anti-encroachment drive, now fire tenders can easily access the Sadar Baazar area in case of an emergency. We will conduct such drives in the future also. Some shopkeepers opposed our drive but we had no option," he added.