Sector 56 Huda market to be developed as a model facility

Apart from these amenities, the market should also be free of encroachments, makeshift shops and illegal hoardings. The revamp will likely be completed in June, once the general elections are over, officials said.

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram Thursday said that they plan to revamp the Sector 56 Huda market and make it a “model market”. On the basis of the success of the pilot project, MCG officials said, similar measures will be adopted across all 40 Huda markets in the city.

Gurugram, India-April 11, 2019: A view of the HUDA market, Sector 56, in Gurugram, India, on Thursday, April 11, 2019. The market is going to be revamped as a “model market”, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) officials said on Thursday. (Photo by Yogendra Kumar/Hindustan Times)(Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

To become a model market, MCG officials said, the Sector 56 market will need to adhere to requisite fire safety norms, have parking space for at least over 100 vehicles besides mobile toilets, benches, streetlights, street vending zones, drinking water facilities and dustbins that are placed equidistantly.

Apart from these amenities, the market should also be free of encroachments, makeshift shops and illegal hoardings. The revamp will likely be completed in June, once the general elections are over, officials said.

MCG officials said the market, which has an average daily footfall of above 4,000 people, has poor infrastructure, with broken public, several unlit stretches.

Facilities such as benches, drinking water booths and dustbins are limited in number, officials maintained.

MCG officials said the Sector 56 Market is full of unlicensed street vendors who heavily encroach the entry and exit gates. Corridors and open spaces in the market, too, are stacked with makeshift shops, which can hamper evacuation and rescue operations in case of fire, officials said.

The development is of significant importance as several markets in the city such as the Vyapar Kendra in Sushant Lok 1, and the Qutub Plaza Market in DLF Phase 1 do not have valid no-objection certificate (NoC) from the fire department, with the matters being stuck in litigation in both the cases.

Both these markets are also encroached upon by street vendors at the entry-exit points and makeshift shops in the corridors, officials said.

Stating that the problems at Sector 56 Huda Market are more severe than those at Qutub Plaza and Vyapar Kendra, assistant divisional fire safety officer, IS Kashyap, said the market chosen for the pilot project is not mandated to a have a fire NoC as it is not in a “confined space or covered building”. To get a fire clearance under the Haryana Fire Services Act, 2009, markets should be in covered buildings.

“We cannot take any action against the violations in the market as the building is not mandated to have a fire NoC. However, the MCG is empowered to take action against encroachments and clear space at the market. This can ensure that fire tenders and firemen have better accessibility in evacuating people from the market and also dousing areas engulfed, in case of a fire,” Kashyap said.

Joint commissioner of Zone 3, Hariom Attri, meanwhile, said the MCG is attempting to absorb all street vendors under its street vending policy – an act he believes will ensure that all street vendors are licenced under the MCG. As a result, he said, they can then be relocated from the centre of the market to empty plots “under one vending zone” nearby.

That, he said, will reduce congestion inside the market.

Attri said the MCG has made plans to initiate anti-encroachment drives against makeshift shops in the market while also removing illegal hoardings. He also maintained that a new tender for completing the makeover of the market can only be completed post-elections since the model code of conduct is in place right now.

“We have plans to install high mast lights in the market but we will hold it off until the end of the elections as we need to issue tenders for procuring the same. In the interim period, the engineering wing will install streetlights at certain corners of the market to ensure there is adequate illumination. We are trying to do as much revamping as possible through the engineering wing until the elections are over,” Attri maintained.

Besides, Attri said, the private concessionaire of the MCG has been directed to collect and transport waste from the market on a daily basis and the sanitation wing has been asked to clean the market twice a day.

The market has a paid parking facility which can accommodate 80-100 vehicles. MCG officials said they are currently assessing the daily footfall in the market, and will accordingly take a call on converting one of the vacant plots in the market to add more parking spaces.