Bhopal: Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) anti-encroachment squad razed down around 40 shops at vegetable market near Bhadbhada on Sunday. The vegetable vendors alleged that the administration took them by surprise as no notice was issued regarding the demolition drive.
They have warned administration to cut vegetable supply to city if they were not allotted another space to run their shops. Apprehending strong opposition from the locals and shop owners, heavy police force was deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident. The BMC team initiated the drive around 6 am and it continued till 11 pm amid heavy sloganeering by the locals.
The vegetable vendors claimed that they were running their shops at the market for over eight years. After they were shifted from Bittan market and rehabilitated to Nehru Nagar area, the district administration had assured that they would be provided space at Neelbad area for running their business, informed Mujahid Siddiquie vice-president of Bittan market Phal sabji thok vikreta sangh, Bhadbhada Sabji Mandi.
However, no allotment was made and now our shops have been demolished, this has caused us .loss to tune of lakhs of rupees, he added, Haseem Qureshi, the association president, alleged that administration did not give any notice before razing down their shops. The administration should have informed us earlier to enable us to make some other arrangements, however, they in a surprise action demolished 40 shops, causing Rs 10 lakh loss to the vendors, said Qureshi.
If administration doesn’t relocate us to other place we would sever vegetable supply to the city and this would cause a shortage of 50 tons of vegetables, warned Qureshi. The shopkeepers have handed over a memorandum to SDM seeking allotment of area to run their shops, said Mujahid.
