Scooter market on Gill Road removed, police deployed
Action taken after HC ordered its removal on Tuesday following contempt petition filed by Model Town Scooter Sellers Association
The municipal corporation (MC) removed the scooter market from the Gill Road on Wednesday, a day after the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) ordered the civic body to take action against the illegal market.
MC officials said hoardings on shops have been removed and a police team deployed at the spot so that no shopkeeper parks the two-wheelers on the road for sale.
MC commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar appeared in the court during the hearing of the case on Tuesday.
The Model Town Scooter Sellers Association had filed a contempt petition in the court seeking action against the illegal market, which was being run at the Gill Road.
The HC had, in 2011, directed the MC to shift the scooter market from the Gill Road. Following the court orders, the MC had allotted shops to scooter sellers in the Model Town area (below the bus stand flyover).
However, a few shopkeepers had again started operating from the Gill Road which irked shopkeepers of the new market.
A contempt petition was filed in April by members of the association against the failure of the MC in stopping the sale of vehicles by shopkeepers in the market by allegedly encroaching upon the Gill Road.
President of the association Satinderpal Singh said the court had ordered the MC to remove the scooter market from the Gill Road as parking of vehicles on the road created traffic bottlenecks.
“Despite several complaints given by the market association, the MC failed to stop some shopkeepers from selling vehicles on the encroached portion of the road. Shopkeepers in Model Town also faced losses in the business as old customers moved to the Gill Road for selling or purchasing vehicles,” said Singh.
MC secretary Neeraj Jain said challans were being issued to the shopkeepers of the Gill Road earlier also, but the action, on Wednesday, was taken on the directions of the high court.
The shopkeepers would not be allowed to run the scooter market at the Gill Road and a police team has now been deputed at the spot to check the same, the secretary added.