After taking action against the shopkeepers who have been operating in Khokha Market for the last 40 years in Phase-I, now all the shopkeepers have become unemployed. After which the shopkeepers are protesting against the government and demanding that they too be given a separate plot of land like the rest of the Khoka markets so that they can run their shops there.
The shopkeepers have been protesting peacefully at the light point of Phase-3/5 for the last three days. On Wednesday, BJP state executive member Sanjeev Vashisht joined the dharna in support of the shopkeepers, saying the government should not adopt a policy of discrimination and deprive the shopkeepers of their jobs.
He said that like the rest of Khokha Market, the government should provide land to these shopkeepers elsewhere as soon as possible so that they could support themselves and their families.
The demonstration will continue until land is available
The protesting shopkeepers said that action was being taken against them by the government under the policy of revenge. He said that their shops were vandalized only because the shopkeepers had sided with the Congress party during the elections. He said that the government belongs to all and not to the people belonging to any political party.
Therefore, the government should not pursue a policy of discrimination and provide employment to shopkeepers. He said that till their demands were met and shops were not set up at other places on the lines of the rest of Khokha market, they would continue to hold dharnas on the lights of Phase-3/5. Uma Kant Tewari, Vivek Krishan Joshi, Raman Sally, TR Puri and all members of Khokha Market were present on the occasion.