The demolition in progress. Bulldozers rolled into Mohali’s busy Shaheed Bhagat Singh market — also known as Khokha market — in Phase 1 on Monday, as the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority carried out an anti-encroachment drive to raze at least 50 temporary shops that they claimed had come up on occupied land. GMADA officials said that notices of eviction had been served to the shopkeepers three days ago.
Records showed that Shaheed Bhagat Singh market was established in the area around 40 years ago as a temporary arrangement that was to be shifted later. GMADA had of late wanted the shopkeepers to clear out, claiming that they were encroaching on the land.
On Monday, as GMADA officials rolled in with a heavy police force to carry out the demolition, the shopkeepers staged a brief protest before giving up and making way. The protesting shopkeepers stated that the development authority should make alternative arrangements for them so that they are not rendered jobless.
Gurpreet Kaur, one of the shopkeepers from the market, said that she and her two sisters operated three tiny shops in the area for the last 40 years, which were their only sources of income. “My father is bed-ridden and these shop were the only source of income for us. GMADA had razed our shops and not provided us any alternative form of employment. What will we do now?” Kaur asked.
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While the GMADA had initially promised to provide them land near the existing market, but they later went rescinded and left them jobless. The officers of GMADA overseeing the drive, on the other hand, said that the shops were razed by following all due legal process and the notices were served to the shopkeepers prior to the drive.
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