Illegal kiosks, encroachment removed from Gurugram’s Sector 29 market

The drive was carried out in the presence of a large police team, which ensured that there was no untoward incident as business owners initially resisted the drive.

Acting on a complaint lodged by a local resident at the CM Window, the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), on Thursday, carried out a demolition drive in which 35 kiosks, set up without permission, were removed.

A picture of Sector 29 market in Gurugram. (HT PHOTO)

The drive was carried out in the presence of a large police team, which ensured that there was no untoward incident as business owners initially resisted the drive, HSVP officials said. The HSVP enforcement team also removed wooden and iron grills installed by shop owners that restricted the movement of pedestrians in the market. Around 10 iron staircases that had been installed illegally were also removed and directions were given to the shop owners to not reinstall them.

The action came after the HSVP took cognizance of a complaint regarding encroachments in the Sector 29 market and found that action had been pending for almost two years. The complaint lodged by Surender Singh, a resident of Sainikhera village, stated that there was large scale encroachment in the entire market and pedestrians faced lot of problems as pathways had been blocked and kiosks set up in many green areas.

Officials also said that a number of diesel power generator sets had been installed and kept on service roads in the market, blocking them for vehicular movement. When the team tried to remove these gensets there was minor sparking after which the drive was stopped and officials asked the shop owners to shift these gensets on their own.

“We have given the shop owners a week’s time to shift the generators. Also, action was taken against illegally set up kiosks and other encroachments. By next week, all encroachments on the green belt will also be removed,” sub-divisional engineer HS Jakhar, who heads the enforcement team, said.

Earlier, HSVP officials had stated non-availability of police team or duty magistrate “on multiple occasions” as the reasons for delay in removing encroachments from Sector 29 market, which is a major food and recreation hotspot in the city.