Gurgaon shopkeepers face Huda music
Gurgaon’s Demolition Man’ is leaving no stone unturned to clean up the system. After training his guns on encroachers in various sectors of Gurgaon, the averick administrator of Huda, Praveen Kumar, took on shopkeepers of Sikanderpur marble market who had allegedly grabbed public property.
Gurgaon’s Demolition Man’ is leaving no stone unturned to clean up the system. After training his guns on encroachers in various sectors of Gurgaon, the averick administrator of Huda, Praveen Kumar, took on shopkeepers of Sikanderpur marble market who had allegedly grabbed public property.
He, accompanied by a team of officials, on Monday sealed 13 shops and seized marbles and furniture. Now, Kumar wants to distribute all the seized items among poor people and social organisations. The market, which houses about 48 shops, is spread across 15 acres. Huda officials said the shopkeepers had encroached upon most of the land as it has rights over only 4 acres.
The drive that began at 6.30am went on till late in the evening. Kumar said, “We will distribute the collected items among poor and social institutions like schools or hospitals that are facing financial problems.”
The general secretary of Sikanderpur Marble Merchant Association, Mahesh Arora, said they would move court to retrieve the articles. Rajesh Khullar, former MCG commissioner, had also carried out a similar feat when he distributed fruits and other items collected from sealed shops to orphanages last year.
Arora, however, claimed that they didn’t anticipate such a move by Huda. “We got the land on lease from the Sikanderpur panchayat in 1994,” he said. The market is located on the Aravali range and commercial use of the land had raised questions.
Devendra Rao, range forest officer, Gurgaon, said, “Sikanderpur village is not notified under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900. Otherwise, we would have taken action against the traders.”