Traders at the Gandhi Nagar market – a wholesale market for readymade textiles – and five other retail markets in the city have been waiting for a year after the Delhi Government announced redevelopment plans for the sites.
According to K.K. Balli, President of Association of Wholesale Readymade Garment Dealers, the east Delhi market continues to suffer from clogged drains and regular traffic jams (Gandhi Nagar).
“Apart from meetings, the last of which took place in July, and the initial round of ground surveys that followed for a few months after, there has been no headway. Nor have we heard back from the Government regarding the redevelopment plans,” said Mr. Balli.
On 26th March 2022, various schemes were announced by Delhi Finance Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in his Rozgar budget speech. These schemes aimed to generate employment in the city, one of which was the redevelopment of five markets — Kamla Nagar, Khari Baoli, Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar and Kirti Nagar — at the cost of Rs. 100 crore.
He said the redevelopment of the five markets will create at least 1.5 lakh new job opportunities in the next five years.
The Minister claimed that the redevelopment will create around 1.5 lakh new job opportunities over the next five years, adding an announcement of the revamp of the Gandhi Nagar wholesale market which he claimed would ‘create more than 40,000 new employment opportunities in the next five years’.
“There has been no work in connection with the redevelopment of Khari Baoli. The last meeting, how the Government would fix the issues related to the maintenance of toilets, sewers, overhead cables and potholes, was held before Diwali. There has been no communication since. We don’t know whether the plan is still on,” said Rajiv Batra, who heads a market association in Khari Baoli.
The plans to revamp the five markets have not been shelved according to AAP’s Trade Wing Convener Brijesh Goyal.
According to him, since the MCD has not provided NOCs to the Delhi Government, the redevelopment scheme had been delayed.
“Despite repeated efforts, the MCD has not issued the NOCs. However, efforts are on to ensure that the redevelopment works start soon,” added Goyal.
“As soon as AAP gets a Mayor and the House begins functioning, I believe the redevelopment work will start without further delay,” he further stated.
