'Daryaganj did not emerge in one day'

Neha / TNN / Feb 17, 2006, 00:50 IST

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As SC has asked MCD to target big commercial establishments in residential areas, most of the shop owner are a worried lot.

NEW DELHI: Balwant Singh was only eight years old, when, around 20 years ago, he first sat at the counter of his eatery joint in Daryaganj.
Carrying forward the family business was but the most natural choice in life. Perhaps the reason why the news that his store is illegal, hasn't yet sunk in.
"Did Daryaganj emerge in a day? It's like Pakistan getting up one morning and saying Kashmir belongs to them.Will we hand it over to them?" asked a bewildered Singh.
Though the SC has asked the MCD to target big commercial establishments in residential areas, most of the shop owners on Netaji Subash Marg and Asaf Ali Marg are a worried lot.

The reason: First on the hitlist would be shops adjoining roads having a span of 80 feet or more and both the Old Delhi roads fall into that category.
A hub of stores for music instruments and electronic goods, sex clinics, chemists' shops and juice corners, establishments along Netaji Subash Marg and Asaf Ali Road have emerged as the main Daryaganj market over decades.
Interestingly, many residents have have even forgotten that it was once a residential area. "Yeh toh main commercial road hai. (This is the main commercial road of Daryaganj)," says Rakesh Gupta, an electronics showroom owner.

"All the people who are against the commercialisation must have come here at some point in their life to buy something," he added.
Let alone reacting to the order, the shopkeepers even refused to accept that they are wrong. "Do you even remember Asaf Ali Road or Netaji Subhash Marg without shops?
They must have been here even during the British era. There is no question of shutting shop overnight," said Sangram Singh, owner of a music instrument shop.

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