Ludhiana News- Mata Rani Road shopkeepers shut down shutters of shops to protest against Municipal Corporation

Ludhiana, October 1, 2013: Shopkeepers belonging to the local markets of Mata Rani Road, Akal Market, Nigar Mandi and leaders and workers of Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal led by the mandal’s state general secretary Sunil Mehra and state secretary Mohinder Aggarwal staged a protest dharna outside Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana office on Tuesday, for not allowing them and their customers to park vehicles within yellow line earmarked by the Corporation for the purpose about two decades ago.
The shopkeepers on Mata Rani road shut down shutters of their shops for one –hour-long protest between 2 pm and 3 pm.
Protestors shouted slogans against the Corporation.
Speaking to the media persons, both Mehra and Aggarwal told that the Corporation officials had not been allowing the parking of vehicles within the yellow line for the last six days, as result of which the shopkeepers had suffered a huge loss, even the state government had suffered a revenue loss of Rs. 40-Rs.45 lakh.
Later on, the Additional Municipal Commissioner Davinder Singh and the Zonal Municipal Commissioner (Zone-A) Kamlesh Bansal held a meeting with the leaders and assured that they would allow the parking for one week on trial basis. “We have assured them that the shopkeepers and their employees will park their two-wheelers in the Corporation’s parking and the customers will be asked to park their vehicles within yellow line”, said Aggarwal while speaking to City Air News this late evening.
Adding, Aggarwal said they had also assured the Corporation authorities that they would even display notice boards in the market asking customers to park their vehicles within yellow line to avoid challan. He said they had categorically said they would not interfere in case the authorities would initiate action against who would be found parking vehicles outside the yellow line in front of the shops.
Among others, Charanjit Bhargav, Devinder Jolly, Neerak NK, Vikay Kumar Chopra, Ashwani Ahuja, Jagdish Sidhana, Surinder Singla, Subhash Tiwari, Surinder Pappu, Parminder Bagga and Rajesh Kumar were present.