Chandigarh admn razes 29 shops at Sector-53 furniture market

Launching action against illegal occupants of government land at the Sector 53/54 furniture market, the UT Estate Office demolished 29 shops in an early morning drive on Sunday.

Reaching the market at 6 am, the Estate Office team brought down the illegal structures amid heavy police presence. The drive, which continued till 1 pm, faced no resistance from traders, who were put on notice on June 22 by the UT land acquisition department to vacate the government land within a week or face demolition.

While some shopkeepers had filed replies to the notice before the land acquisition officer (LAO), several others did not respond, inviting the demolition action.

Earlier, in response to the notices, a delegation of the Furniture Market Association on June 25 had met deputy commissioner (DC) Vinay Pratap Singh. After hearing their grievances, the DC had asked them to file their individual replies to the LAO before June 28, failing which demolition would be proceeded with ex parte.

The delegation had requested for an opportunity to buy shops in the upcoming Bulk Material Market on open auction and till the auction is conducted, they offered to pay rent of the area encroached upon by them, as assessed by the administration.

Thereafter, the deputy commissioner on Saturday had said that for illegal occupants of government land in furniture market who have given their replies and undertaking, demolition will not be undertaken on Sunday, as their replies were being examined by competent authority for the final decision. But for those, who had not submitted the replies, their shops will be demolished soon.

Consequently, the UT Estate Office on Sunday pulled down 29 shops, with 116 more still slated for demolition.

In the June 22 notice to shopkeepers, the land acquisition department had said, “The land was actually acquired by the Chandigarh administration in 2002 and is part of village Badheri. Though the shopkeepers had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court for a stay on vacating the land, the court had in September 2023 disposed of all petitions filed by the alleged lessees of the land. Also, the UT administration had given compensation to the landowners, and the shop owners are illegal possessor of the government land. As per the Land Acquisition Act, the shopkeepers are directed to demolish/remove the illegal structure from the government land at their own level and restore the land without any encumbrance by June 28, failing which the shops will be demolished by the department. The expenses of removal/demolition will be recovered from the shopkeepers and legal action as per law will also be initiated against them.”

The next hearing before the high court is scheduled for July 10.

Sanjeev Bhandari, president of the New Furniture Market Association, Sectors 53 and 54, said, “We are ready to vacate government land, but the UT administration should rehabilitate us. We will even pay the amount for the new place.”

A senior officer of the UT administration stated, “We have received replies from shopkeepers and are examining them. The decision for the schedule of demolition will be taken after examining the replies as per rules at the appropriate level.”

Set up illegally on government land, the furniture market came up around 37 years ago. Ever since, around 150 shops have been set up in the market.

While the UT administration had tried to remove the shops, mostly run by tenants, they got a stay order from the Punjab and Haryana high court in 1993 and there has been no move to shift the market ever since.

Shopkeepers contend that the administration has failed to shift the market despite several requests, even though the traders are paying around ₹10 crore GST every year.

Demanding permanent shops, members of the market association have also met BJP leaders from time to time.

As the market is illegal, the municipal corporation has also imposed no fire-safety measures. Consequently, the market has seen over a dozen fire mishaps since its inception.