Saturday, 27 MAY 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Shopkeepers of Paltan Bazaar have demanded compensation for those days when they fail to open their shops due to poor construction work in the area under the Smart City project. They claimed that the workers under Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL) started digging in the area for road construction on Thursday and allegedly broke the water pipeline. This led to water pouring into several shops in the area due to which owners had to close their shops. “I had raised this concern in a recent meeting with Rajpur Road MLA Khajan Das before the authorities were planning to dig for road construction. I said that the workers can potentially damage water lines, electricity lines or sewer pipes while digging due to which everybody’s business will be affected in Paltan Bazaar area. Rather than repairing it on time, officials usually say it is the Public Works Department’s responsibility to fix it. The PWD officials will say it is DSCL’s work to repair it. DSCL officials will claim Jal Sansthan is responsible for repair works and the latter will call it the UPCL’s job. It will go on for weeks while severely affecting our business,” said the president of Doon Valley Mahanagar Udyog Vyapar Mandal (DVMUVM), Pankaj Masson. He said that all his concerns seems to become true when the water pipeline broke just after first digging on Thursday night due to which several shops remained closed the next day. He said that even if shopkeepers would have opened shops, customers would have hardly come due to water and mud in the marketplace. He said that considering the loss shopkeepers have to bear due to construction works, they have appealed to MLA Khajan Das to direct officials concerned to pay them compensation for all those days when they have to keep their shops closed. If this issue will not be addressed, we will start protests against officials concerned, added Masson.
