E-Paper
Chandigarh: Anti-encroachment drive at marble market stopped midway amid protest by shopkeepers
High drama was witnessed during an anti-encroachment drive at the marble market in Dhanas on Wednesday as UT administration officials faced stiff resistance from shopkeepers and local unit of Bharatiya Janata Party
High drama was witnessed during an anti-encroachment drive at the marble market in Dhanas on Wednesday as UT administration officials faced stiff resistance from shopkeepers and local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The anti-encroachment drive, in the presence of large police force, started around 9 am, and more than 40 shops and godowns were demolished before the shopkeepers could intervene. Eventually, the shopkeepers held a demonstration and blocked the road near the market demanding the drive be stopped. Chandigarh BJP chief Arun Sood and other senior party leaders joined them.
Sood said it was wrong to carry out such a drive all of a sudden, especially after the administration had assured no such action will be taken. He said, “Shopkeepers should have been first allotted the shops and only then the process of removing the shops from Dhanas should have been started.”
Amid strong protests, the drive was stopped midway, and police also removed the traders blocking the road. While the administration officials maintained that several eviction notices were issued to the traders, traders and the BJP functionaries denied it.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party’s co-in-charge Pardeep Chhabra said the marble market was a need for the town’s people, the administration should rehabilitate the traders.
