Fun 'N' Food Village sealed

Vidya Menon / TNN / Apr 1, 2006, 23:58 IST

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With Fun 'N' Food Village being sealed, MCD's drive in Najafgarh Zone had an eventful beginning on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: With Fun 'N' Food Village being sealed, MCD's drive in Najafgarh Zone had an eventful beginning on Saturday. Twenty-five other properties were also sealed in the Kapashera area on Day Four.
Action began around 11 am when the MCD team arrived at the amusement park which was expecting another busy weekend. "We were not told in advance about the drive.There were many customers inside and we were totally unprepared," said Sitaram Modi, an accounts employee at the park.
A huge crowd had gathered to watch the action and there was confusion as customers and staff were caught unawares. Confusion became chaos when many of the customers, who were asked to vacate the premises, started demanding fee refund.
Soon, an argument followed between the park employees and MCD officials. Said Balwant Singh Chawla, MD, Fun 'N' Food Village: "We have been running this place for the past 15 years and have all the required licences.

There's no violation of the Master Plan. We wanted MCD to see all the papers and give us in writing that they are sealing it despite having seen the documents.
When they refused, we filed a police complaint against the civic body. We are now going to take this up with Supreme Court's monitoring committee."
On its part, the civic body said there was no confusion about the status of the amusement park. Explained A K Ambasht, deputy commissioner, Najafgarh Zone: "It was a commercial activity running from a residential area and we had to seal it. If a case has been filed, that'll be fought in the court."

Many employees at the park also alleged police high-handedness. "They were very rude to us. They gave us hardly an hour to vacate the premises and even drove the customers away. Some of us were even beaten up," said one of them.
The police denied any misbehaviour. Said Shalini Singh, additional DCP, southwest district: "We couldn't have spent hours, waiting for them to vacate the premises.
There was also confusion as customers started demanding refund. We asked everyone to make it fast. In fact, the employees were not cooperating with the police personnel."
Seals on one of the most prominent amusement parks in the city have also left hundreds of people jobless. Rued Modi: "I have been working here for the past five years. I have a family to support and there are at least 300-400 people like me. Where do we go from here?"
Elsewhere in Kapashera, 25 more properties were sealed. Though there was some tension in the morning, the situation was soon brought under control.
Said Ambasht: "A mob pelted stones at our vehicle in the morning and some of our staff received minor injuries. In our list of 60 properties to be sealed in the area, Fun 'N' Food Village was the last.
But the villagers turned violent saying we were trying to spare the big fish. Once we promised them to seal the amusement park first, the situation became normal."
With most of the properties sealed being small shops, people said they feared a rise in crime. "This is a village area and most of the people are uneducated.
They earned their livelihood through petty business as there is no agriculture left. If their shops are sealed, they will take to crime for survival," said Gaurav Aggarwal, a businessman.
Another agitated trader said: "Why are they doing this? Can't they shoot us and kill us at once? Let us break the seals and go to the jail together."
Interestingly, a PWD office also exists on the road. Said an official there: "We have an illegal building. But we are doing maintenance of this road for the past few years. Once that work is over, we will demolish the building ourselves."

About the Author

Vidya Menon

A deskie, she finds copy errors particularly pesky. Hobbies include reading and making grand plans that are never executed. Hates physics, but loves metaphysics.

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