Grain market? Now, is it a thing to raise a stink about?

Garbage was cleared “on a war-footing” and half a dozed trucks were employed to carry it away. Some shops, functioning on the back side of the sabzi mandi, were also razed.

The operation that began at around 10 a.m., kept a 100-odd labourers occupied for nearly four hours. All the three tehsildars H. R. Nagra, D. S. Baloria and M. S. Gill, and Sub Divisional Magistrate Amarnath, were present for the operation which was supervised by UT Deputy Commissioner K. K. Khandelwal. A large number of policemen was also deployed to maintain law and order.

According to police sources, an advocate tried to stall the operation saying that the vendors had got stay orders from the Court. But the police maintaining that the stay was only for the rehris inside the market, continued with the work. No case had been registered till evening, added the police.

“The operations are going to be a weekly affair to ensure that efforts do not go waste,” the officials said.

The Administration has also decided to make the market a one-way traffic zone, and to make that work, certain entry and exit points have been identified

.The revamp plan was discussed in a meeting held last evening between the members of the Market Committee and the Deputy Commissioner, and attended by Mayor Gian Chand Gupta.

Parking, which many consider to be the market’s single largest problem, will be regulated but it is not yet decided whether the parking lot will be maintained by the Municipal Corporation or the Market Committee. Officials indicated that the work may be assigned to the committee.

Shopkeepers will be issued stickers, as is the practice in some of the other City markets, and a “nominal” parking fee will be charged from the general public, the officials added.

Meanwhile, reports of removal of encroachments have also come in from the Sector 18 rehri market. The shops removed were the ones selling cooked chicken and mutton dishes, the officials said.