With reports of ASI giving stop-work notice to the ongoing work for the new Janpath Metro station, DMRC officials deny such reports and claim that the work will start in two months.
B.K Mishra, chief project manager, Delhi Metro says, “The required preparations before the work has already started. The work is running smoothly. We have incorporated all the guidelines set by ASI. We have all the papers required for the construction of the Janpath Metro line. We have not received any such notice to discontinue the work.”
The Metro line covers the entire Tibetan market area and the traffic for now has been diverted towards Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Parliament Street. Although, business at the capital’s most popular and most visited market has suffered due to the barricades, shopowners are now taking effective measures to lessen the loss.
Says Krishen Negi of Authentic Ground shop at the Tibetan market, “It’s a big blow to our business. It’s almost 70 per cent less profit. Janpath being the favourite shopping hub, the construction work is driving away our potential customers, including the foreign tourists. We have reduced our stock. Now, we are relying more on our wholesale business clients, as the retail business is not fetching us much.”
The Metro work will take minimum one year. However, there are few shopowners who’re hopeful of better business once the line starts. R.K. Grover, one of the shop owners at Tibetan market says, “We have to be prepared for a major loss of our business for an entire year because of the construction. But we hope it will pick up once the line starts. Metro officials are quite co-operative. They have placed signboards informing about the direction to the market and have also placed halogen lights to highlight the market, to indicate that the market is open. They’ve given us enough parking area for our transport vehicles and enough walking area for the shoppers. The only problem is that the touts and auto-rickshaw drivers are taking the tourists to other markets, where they are getting better commission, telling them that the market is closed. This is another reason why we’re losing our customers.”