This story is from July 22, 2019

Delhi HC throws the book at Daryaganj vendors

Vijay Kumar Sharma (75) has been selling secondhand books at the Sunday market on Netaji Subhash Marg since 1981, but uncertainty now looms over his head and around 300 other street vendors.
Now, uncertainty looms over secondhand book market in Daryaganj
Book vendors claim that the L-shaped road from Delite Cinema to Golcha Cinema is the designated area where the Sunday bazaar can be held
NEW DELHI: Vijay Kumar Sharma (75) has been selling secondhand books at the Sunday market on Netaji Subhash Marg since 1981, but uncertainty now looms over his head and around 300 other street vendors.
Earlier this week, Delhi high court directed North Delhi Municipal Corporation to ensure that no weekly markets on Sundays are permitted on Netaji Subhash Marg. However, when TOI visited the Sunday bazaar, the vendors were still found selling books with a cautious look over their shoulders.
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Most vendors said they have stopped bringing in new stock since the court order, but don’t know where they would go if they are indeed removed from the stretch.
“We have received assurances that the order is only limited to cloth sellers and not book vendors. We have not received any written notice yet, so all we can do is wait,” said Sharma.
Praveen Kumar, another street vendor selling schoolbooks and novels since 1991, said, “A clearance drive was conducted last year, which saw 60 vendors being removed from the street. We know a threat looms over us too, but we cannot do anything. We have slowly started reducing our stock in case we have to move.”
For most visitors, the market is filled with nostalgia considering it has been functioning for 65 years. Kamran Khan (40), who had come to the market to buy books for his son, said he has been a customer for over two decades now. “I would come during my schooldays and now I’m here to buy books for my son. It is a popular haunt, both in terms of variety and reasonable prices,” he added.

Qamar Saeed, president of Daryaganj Patri Sunday Book Bazaar Welfare Association, clarified that the order will only affect those vendors on the select stretch between Golcha Cinema and Gauri Shankar Mandir.
“We have been working here for decades with permission from north corporation. The vendors who were functioning on the congested stretches have been removed. The order should not affect us at all,” said Saeed, pointing towards an RTI reply that highlights the designated roads where the Sunday bazaar can be held. “The L-shaped road from Delite Cinema to Golcha Cinema is where we can legally sell books,” he added.
Despite repeated attempts by TOI, north corporation officials refused to comment on the court order.
The high court had earlier this month vacated its interim order allowing holding of the weekly bazaar on Sundays on Netaji Subhash Marg. The court clarified that from now on no weekly bazaar shall be permitted taking into account a united stand of all civic agencies and Delhi Traffic Police who said that at no stage after the year 2005 was permission granted to conduct a weekly bazaar on Netaji Subhash Marg.
The corporation and police informed the court that the area has been declared a no-squatting and no-hawking zone, the underlying reason being that it is a very busy road and the volume of traffic is extremely high at all times. The court noted that any permission to vend there adversely affects the free flow of traffic as no space is left for pedestrians. If the weekly bazaar is permitted, pedestrians would be forced to walk on the road and jeopardise their life and limb. Also, customers park their vehicles on the main road adding to the congestion.
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