Nehru Place gets the demolition demon

Nehru Place went through the first of its kind `clean-up' drive by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). This clean-up (demolition) drive tore apart the kiosks, glow signs, banners, hoardings and almost everything that was outside the premises of the shops on the ground floor. This drive was armed with two bulldozers, 200 policemen and several CISF men, accompanied by DDA officials.

The drive begun at around 11 in the morning on Tuesday and went on till five in the evening. With the setting of the sun, Nehru Place was a brazen bazaar than the usual self of the bustling IT place.

Anil Sachdeva, President, Delhi Computer Traders Association (DCTA), felt that this was a well-spirited drive but was not able to achieve the desired results.

Along with the glow signs and other banners, the demolition squad also uprooted the air-conditioning systems. One could see the banners and glow-signs hanging in a very precarious condition across the area. And there were shreds of glass and plastic in every square-inch in the heart of Nehru Place.

The ground floor houses nearly 500 resellers and shops and each of the vinyl boards is not less than Rs 5,000. Working on these estimates, the loss might run into crores. Added to the fact that business for the day had come to a standstill and the cumulative loss of the several hundred shops, which had faced the bulldozer.

The official agency in charge of the drive is the DDA. Ajay Chauhan, one of the engineers-in-charge (maintenance), DDA, quoted the reason for this demolition drive and said that the glow signs outside were illegal and that several notices had been repeatedly served to the respective shop owners, but to no avail. However, DCTA denies any such notice. Everyone affected by the drive dared the DDA to produce even a single such issuance of prior warning.

Information within the DDA is conflicting as well. Ravindra Kumar Gupta, Executive Engineer, DDA, the divisional office head for Nehru Place, said that the drive was intended to evacuate the hawkers and the vendors who thrive illegally. When questioned about the broken glow signs and ripped open air-conditioners, he said, "It should not have happened, it was not intended to happen."

The grapevine is linking this drive to the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's scheduled visit to the Lotus Temple on February 1 and the cleanliness drive, which includes the areas adjoining the Lotus Temple too. However Anil
Sehgal, President, Nehru Place Improvement and Welfare Association, denied the whole thing as a rumor and clarified that it was in no way connected to the Prime Minister's visit.

Ironically, the hawkers and vendors were back within 15 minutes of the bulldozers moving to another wing of Nehru Place, and pirated CDs, refills for cartridges and peanuts were displayed with equal vehemence once again.

Some of the street hawkers informed that they could see the police coming and the wooden booths were tucked away strategic moments before the razing began and are all unharmed.

Sehgal further informed that even as the drive was on, one of the joint directors of DDA was calling repeatedly to call an end to it. "If he had not intervened, the drive would not have trickled out to the adjoining jhuggis," he said.

Sachdeva and Sehgal are quizzical over the fact that the rampage could touch every iota of the Nehru Place but the Great Eastern Center, which encroaches almost 20 feet along the boundary of the building and Paharpur Business Center were left untouched. "The way the whole situation was handled reeks of partiality and dishonesty amongst the officers," charged
Sehgal.

"Why have a demolition drive that meaninglessly destroys the resellers while sparing those with deeper pockets," he questioned angrily. However, few flower pots were broken down nonchalantly as the angry mob repeatedly pointed out that the structures were illegal. Sachdeva too repeated the same refrain.

Janak Kakkar, Joint Director, DDA had a muted response on the need for this drive. "We got a complaint from the divisional office and we are just providing them with the labor and police assistance. I am yet to get the full report of the incidence and we would look into the details as soon as we get the inputs from various bodies." He was inspecting the site today and plans to address the grievances of resellers in a day or two.

Meanwhile, both Sehgal and Sachdeva plan to talk to the higher authorities and thrash out the issues. "We would be holding meetings with all the higher officials and try to reason out on why they took such a step. If they fail to give valid reasons we would go on strike," said a very angry Sehgal. But it is also true that he is not getting as much support from the reseller community as he had expected. "There are resellers in the market who are quite happy with the turn of events. And people who want to help do not have the time," said a visibly dejected
Sehgal.

Reactions

Gurjeet Singh Kohli, Head (Marketing), OA Compserve: Out of this chaos not much was achieved. Hawkers and peddlers are back in business. The resellers have been hit, but they might put their acts together and make Nehru Place more presentable. With so many street-side vendors, it is a pain to walk through the Nehru Place corridors.

Anil Sachdeva, President, DCTA: This was a well-spirited drive but was not able to achieve the desired results.

Moninder Jain, National Marketing Manager, Samsung India: This act wasn't justified. Glow signs and banners etc are assets for the resellers and they give them the required identity in the market. DDA should have got to the insides of the matter.

R Manikandan, DGM (Sales and Marketing), LG India: It is sad that this was done in so much of haste. The government officials should have showed some prudence.

CNS & DQW News Bureau