The Hindu 07.09.2013
Removal of illegal bunk shops under way
The Chennai Corporation on Friday removed unauthorised bunk shops in a number of localities.
A
crackdown on unauthorised structures by officials of zones such as
Royapuram and Madhavaram extended late into the night on Friday. At
least seven structures in Royapuram were removed by Friday evening.
Removal of more shops is under way.
“The shops
hindered pedestrian movement. Garbage clearance is also affected by
them. There are many such shops on Pantheon Road, Montieth Road, Ethiraj
Road and Gandhi Irwin Road. But it is also a source of livelihood for
some poor people,” said Mohammed Imthias, councillor of ward 61.
“In
some cases, poor people are used by others. The latter have
commissioned hundreds of shops in many roads and collect money from
those who run it,” he added.
Chennai Corporation has so far removed 339 unauthorised bunk shops in various parts of the city.
On
Thursday, the civic body made a submission before the First Bench of
the Madras High Court comprising acting Chief Justice R.K. Agrawal and
Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, when a contempt petition filed by K.R.
Ramaswamy alias ‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy came up.
The petitioner had submitted that illegal bunk shops had not been removed, in violation of a court order.
In a counter-affidavit, Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kapur said the officials had started implementing the order.
Bunk
shop owners have been instructed to remove the structures and the
Corporation will take action on those who fail to remove encroachments
on time.
The civic body has identified 518 such shops
in the city. There were court cases with regard to 119 of them. The
Corporation will complete the removal of all unauthorised bunk shops in
two weeks.
After officials removed bunk shops, owners have started using carts to run the same business in some areas.