After five years of uncertainty over their rehabilitation, shop owners displaced from near the city’s Jama Masjid for a redevelopment plan have finally got an alternative site to carry on their trade.
The Vijay Coat market near Shashtri Park metro station, which will house more than 340 displaced shopkeepers, was unveiled last week.
Traders from Coat market and Indira market near the mosque were removed when the civic body planned an ambitious re-development project for the area in 2005.
The new market has five blocks of 68 kiosks of 6X4 feet.
The displaced shop owners originally faced problems in rehabilitation and formed the Jama Masjid displaced merchants welfare association to push their case. Finally, their efforts proved successful when the MCD designated the Shashtri Park site for them in 2010.
"The site near metro station was provided more than a year ago by the MCD to rehabilitate the shopkeepers displaced from Jama Masjid area," an MCD official said.
However, the redevelopment plan itself is yet to take off despite getting a conditional clearance from the Delhi Urban Art Commission