At Narela, it’s a wholesale failure

No wholesale chemical market has shifted to Narela due to Delhi Development Authority’s poor planning,” blandly states Sushil Goel, former president of the Chemical Merchants’ Association. The chemical trader was to have shifted from Tilak Bazar to an Integrated Freight Complex (IFC) at Narela a long time ago. Warehouses were supposed to have come up there, a road network and bus depots too.But, the 397 hectares of the IFC, located off National Highway 1, today lie vacant.
When TOI visited the area, there were no warehouses to be seen. In fact, even the signages and streetlights are missing, confirming the Society of Awareness and Development’s contention before Delhi high court that official agencies had made no serious effort to shift the wholesale traders out of congested Old Delhi. The society’s petition to the court said numerous requisitions for allotment of land made by various trade associations had elicited no response from government agencies.
Though 1,107 plots were available for chemical traders, only 670 have been allotted land for construction of their warehouses. Plots measuring 50 square metres each were parcelled out in three phase from 2000 onward. “Most were allotted plots by 2002. Then for the past 14 years, DDA and North Delhi Municipal Corporation have not been able to verify the credentials of the remaining traders,” says Goel.
DDA officials put the onus of verification of the dealers on the North Corporation. The civic body did carry out a survey in December last year, but the traders did not cooperate saying they were not properly briefed about the process. The land agency continues to believe that the traders are bargaining for bigger plots at Narela. However, Goel retorts, “We want to move. Most traders have godowns in NCR, so getting our own space in Narela would only help us.”
The stalemate centres on the permission to erect warehouses at Narela. Pradeep Gupta, president of the Chemical Merchants’ Association, says DDA is unable to clear building plans because it is “awaiting approval from the central government’s Controller of Explosives”. Incredulous that DDA had asked the traders to get this central clearance, Gupta asks, “When DDA, being a government body, is unable to get the permission, how can we get it?”
Gupta adds that DDA has given traders a list of 50-odd documents and clearances required to get building plans sanctioned. Goel’s response is typical of the traders’ reaction to this: “Our families have been doing business from Old Delhi for decades,” he says. “When we are being moved to a planned area on the outskirts of Delhi, DDA should ease our way through the necessary documentation.”
The disclosure by DDA officials that five traders have applied for building sanctions, of which two have been given approval, has been met with disbelief by the traders. We want to know the names of the two establishments cleared to build their warehouses, they say. The aggrieved merchants recently attended a meeting called by area MP and union minister, Harsh Vardhan, to thrash out the niggling issues.
The lack of basic civic infrastructure and security at the IFC also irks the wholesalers. “A fire station is a must because chemicals will be stored there,” points out Shyam Sunder Gupta, secretary of the trade body. “And for a commercial hub, banks are important. How can traders shift without such facilities?”
There is a bit of irony involved too, as Goel mirthfully points out. “The idea of relocating the chemical market was to remove it from a residential area. But in Narela, the IFC shares a boundary wall with a housing society and a village. This is DDA’s planning!”.