HC Pulls Up DDA, NMCD Over Unused Narela Freight Complex
The Delhi High Court has pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the municipal corporation of north Delhi for not ensuring that traders from the walled city shift to the integrated freight complex (IFC) at Narela, even after plots have been alloted for the purpose.
The purpose of the IFC is to act as a centre for off-loading and picking up wholesale goods by road and rail from and to other states to decongest the national capital.
Concerned over the "wastage of tax-payers' money" with which the IFC has been set up, a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar were of the view that if the markets, including chemical traders, were shifted from central and old Delhi to Narela, it would decongest these areas.
The court said that allowing chemical traders to continue where they were had led to "disastrous consequences, including overcrowding and congestion", and shifting them and others to the IFC would lead to occupancy of the DDA's "languishing flats" there.
The DDA said it was the north MCD's responsibility to ensure that those allotted the land shift to the new location. The court suggested cancellation of the allotments of such persons and shutting down of their businesses if they did not shift to these commercial complexes.
"Tax-payers' money is being wasted. Why are you not doing your job? It is mind-boggling to think that a project with such a huge money value is being permitted to slide, while the Supreme Court, the National Green Tribunal and this court are struggling with pollution issues. It is only because the officials are not doing their duty," it said.
The Bench directed the DDA and North Delhi Municiapl Corporation to carry out a joint inspection of the walled city to identify the chemical traders, who had not shifted to Narela despite being granted possession of plots for setting up shop. It directed them to file a report after the inspection and listed the matter for hearing on December 19.
With inputs from Housing News