The new parking lot for Khan Market is yet to see the light of day due to the persistent tussle between land and Development Office (l&DO) and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) over procurement of land for the purpose.
The NDMC has sought 4,972 square metres of land from the l&DO for nominal charges to which the latter is yet to respond despite repeated reminders.
Besides, the Khan Market Welfare Association has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court demanding the NDMC to pay for the fire safety measures during the revamp project. With this, there has been no progress in the redevelopment plan of the market.
"We sent a reminder to the l&DO two weeks back, but have got no response till now. This was our second reminder but to no avail," said a senior NDMC official. While the l&DO has quoted an amount of Rs 14.77 crore for the land, the NDMC is unwilling to pay the same price calling it unjustified. Interestingly, the NDMC wants the land for a meager Rs 13,000.
"l&DO is asking for Rs 28,980 per square metre which is a huge amount. We have asked them to give us the piece of land at Rs 11,000 per acre. They are charging us commercial rates while the parking in Khan Market won't be used for that purpose as it already is a commercial area. In all the other land that they allotted to us like on KG Marg, they had not demanded commercial rates before," said the official.
Meanwhile, the Khan Market Welfare Association (KMWA) has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court demanding that the civic body should bear the cost of redeveloping the market. "The NDMC should pay for laying the fire safety measures, electricity and telephone cables, and sewer lines," informed a member of the KMWA.
The civic body on the other hand, has accepted to change the sewer lines on their own, whereas the other issues are still hanging undecided.
Earlier, the council had called a meeting on April 25 which was also attended by members of the Khan Market Traders' Association.
The meeting had failed to reap any result as there were stark differences among the members of KMTA and the council on the question of bearing the expenditure of the revamp.
Since then, after over two months the matter remains at the same stage as before.