Shimla MC to raze 19 shops in Boileauganj, Sanjauli

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 15

The Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided to demolish its 19 shops (14 in Boileauganj and four at the Sanjauli Chowk) to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.

The Sanjauli Chowk is mostly choked with traffic coming from upper Shimla via Dhalli. Long queues are witnessed on the Sanjauli-Chhota Shimla stretch and the one leading to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital and Lakkar Bazaar.

Traffic jams at the Sanjauli Chowk during the peak hours have become a routine affair. The four shops are in bad shape and make the already narrow road more congested.

A narrow curve on the Sanjauli Chowk also leads to traffic snarls. “There is a shop and a fruit vendor at the southern end of the chowk linked with road leading to Government Senior Secondary, Sanjauli,” said residents.

“If the shop is removed, the residents and commuters will get relief from frequent traffic jams,” they said.

Similarly, Boileauganj Bazaar also witnesses long traffic jams due to the 14 shops located along the narrow road.

After demolishing 11 shops along the narrow road near the old bus stand on the Cart Road, the SMC has also decided to raze its 14 shops in Boileauganj Bazaar and four shops at the Sanjauli Chowk to widen the old bus stand.

Municipal Commissioner Pankaj Rai said the corporation had decided to demolish the 19 shops. “We have completed the demolition at the old bus stand and will soon start razing shops in Boileauganj and Sanjauli,” he added.

Rai said the SMC would explore all possibilities to remove all bottlenecks under its jurisdiction to ease traffic jams and congestion in the city.

On the rehabilitation of the displaced shopkeepers, Rai said the SMC was constructing Ajivika Bhawan near The Lift and would allot shops to the shopkeepers.