The Hindu : Front Page : Demolition of Pondy Bazaar buildings begins

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Sunday, Nov 23, 2008
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Demolition of Pondy Bazaar buildings begins

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

The Chennai Corporation’s demolition squad in action on Saturday.

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation took up demolition of a few concrete structures in Pondy Bazaar, T.Nagar, on Saturday evening. The action followed a directive from the Madras High Court, which disallowed the shops from functioning in the location.

The shops now being demolished share a wall with the market, that will make way for a building to house hawkers evicted from Usman Road when a flyover was constructed there.

Though the civic body was able to vacate 100 shopkeepers from the area sometime ago, 15 others filed a case in a bid to prevent the demolition. Most of these shops had renovated their units several times over. A garment shop owner said: “We had invested Rs.15 lakh in renovating the shop. We had made no provision to relocate our shop.”

About six shops, including those selling cosmetics, readymade garments, knick-knacks and a watch repair shop will be razed in a couple of days.

On Saturday night, the shop assistants were seen loading trucks with their wares. Police personnel were posted in the area as corporation officials began the demolition. “We had given notice to vacate the premises a year ago. But, the shopkeepers had been seeking legal support. The High Court Bench gave them time till November 21 to vacate and we began demolition today,” said an assistant engineer of the Corporation in-charge of the demolition.

For several decades residents of streets behind the market have had to put up with water-logged streets after every spell of rain. Sometimes it takes as long as a day if the spell is very heavy.

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