P’kula consumer forum shifted to safer place

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, December 30

After 20-long years, the District Consumer Forum here has been shifted to a safer place. The forum was being run from the 160-year-old Nahan kothi in Sector 12-A till now. Since its inception in 1997, the court had been running from this building and since 2006, a new venue was being searched for it.

Now, it will be run from Showroom No. 208 in Sector 14. The approval for it has been given by SS Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Food and Supplies, Haryana. A proposal for the same was sent by District Commissioner Garima Mittal to the Food and Supplies Department earlier this year.

District Food and Supplies Officer (DFSO) Meghna Kanwar had said the showroom owner was demanding a rent of Rs 1.60 lakh per month, which was too much for the department to pay. The amount has now been settled at Rs 1.50 lakh per month.

The total area of the showroom is 2,450 sq feet and it has a basement and ground floor. President of the forum Dharampal had agreed to shift to the showroom on the condition that as soon as the multi-level parking project is completed near the Mini-Secretariat, they will be shifted there with adequate space.

While the permission to shift the forum was received on December 1 through a letter form the Food and Supplies Department, there were no facilities available at the showroom for running a court. The owner agreed to do the needful and has now completed the work.

The Nahan kothi was not only declared unsafe but was also a protected monument and the courts were running there illegally. It was built by two sons of King Fateh Singh of Sirmour between 1857 and 1863. The building will now be taken over by the Archaeological Department, which may maintain it as a museum, according to sources.