The redevelopment plan of Khan Market may be stuck for a while now owing to lack of consensus on expansion of the parking area. The meeting convened by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Thursday bore no fruit and the civic body asked the traders of Khan Market to come to a common stand until further talks of development are carried out.
“The proposal of rebuilding Khan Market cannot be taken up until the parking issue is solved. The land and Development Office (l&DO) has given us around 5,000 square metres of land for Rs 15 crore. We have requested them to reduce the price and give it to us at a nominal rate. Till now no response has been received from their end,” said a senior official at NDMC.
The meeting chaired by NDMC chairperson Archna Arora was also attended by members of the civic body, an architect and 12 members from the Khan Market Traders’ Association. “There were differences between the people belonging to the ground floor and the upper floors. While the first floor people demanded a wider sewerage network, those concerned with the ground floors opined that things should remain as they are,” an official of the civic body said.
Meanwhile, the residents and shop owners of Khan Market are miffed at the fact that the NDMC has asked them to pool-in for the project. This is similar to the redevelopment model taken up in Connaught Place (CP) where the shopkeepers had to shell out Rs 60,000 for the same. Also, the members of the KMTA have demanded a study to be carried out on the safety of the buildings in the market. “There are huge generators and water tanks of over 20,000 litres on top of every building. How are these old buildings supposed to carry so much pressure on itIJ” questioned a member of KMTA.
According to sources, if the demand to make the sewerage network bigger by the owners of the first floor is accepted then all the electric cables will have to be taken out and brought to the main road. The ground floor owners are against this as they believe it would affect their business due to digging of roads.
“They are not even agreeing for trenchless sewer repair. And for all these electrical lines to be reconstructed because of the sewerage network will have to be paid by us. We won’t pay for it,” he said. Regarding fire safety in the market, the civic body has decided to put steel ledges on the buildings which would be attached with a steel ladder for emergency evacuation.