Relocated Jama Masjid traders plan protest

Over 300 traders relocated from Jama Masjid have said they will take up a protest soon as there is a complete lack of toilets and other sanitation facilities at the new market they have been relocated to. A large number of shopkeepers had been displaced from the area as part of a plan to redevelop Jama Masjid.

Over 300 traders relocated from Jama Masjid have said they will take up a protest soon as there is a complete lack of toilets and other sanitation facilities at the new market they have been relocated to. A large number of shopkeepers had been displaced from the area as part of a plan to redevelop Jama Masjid.

After five years of dilly-dallying over rehabilitation,more than 340 such traders were accommodated in Vijay Coat Market near the newly inaugurated Shashtri Park Metro Station. The market has five blocks,comprising 68 kiosks of 6×4 feet each. Traders claimed on Tuesday that the Vijay Market has no toilets,electricity,boundary wall or sanitation system,though the MCD had promised to provide all the facilities required.

The shopkeepers said that if the situation does not improve,they will have no other option but to go back to the original market. After being displaced,the traders formed the Jama Masjid Displaced Merchants Welfare Association to push their case. Their efforts finally proved successful when the MCD designated the Shashtri Park site for them last year.

Earlier,when the redevelopment plan was being discussed,we were told that we will be provided with Mughal-style architecture as part of the Jama Masjid redevelopment project. It is yet to take off,and after years of struggling,we were provided with an alternative space to conduct business. However,the place lacks basic facilities, association general secretary Mohammed Arif said.

If the promised facilities are not provided to us soon,we will hold demonstrations and hunger strikes to press for our demands, he said.

The traders near the mosque were made to relocate when the civic body planned an ambitious re-development project for the area in 2005.

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