New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS) After being shut for five weeks in a row, the Sunday Daryaganj footpath book market has got permission to function in a truncated manner from Sunday, the president of the traders' association said.
The market was last open on December 24 and the traders were told that they would not be able to display their wares on subsequent Sundays due to the Republic Day parade on Jan 26 and the ASEAN summit preceeding it.
It was a let down not only for the vendors but also for book lovers and students in the national capital.
"They (the civic body) have not given us full permission and we are only allowed to set up the shop between Golcha cinema and Delight cinema. They are not allowing any shops on the Daryaganj Pul (overbridge) and so more than 50 of the shopkeepers will not able to set up their shops," Qamar Saeed, President, Daryaganj Patri Sunday Book Bazar Welfare Association, told IANS.
Although there has been no written permission for the market, the association claimed it had got verbal permission after a meeting with officials of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday, Saeed said, adding they apprehended trouble from the police due to the lack of written permission.
Every year, the civic body orders the closure of the makeshift market on the Sunday before Republic Day (Jan 26) and Independence Day (Aug 15) but this year it happened much earlier.
"It has been a month already and I am running out of money now. I need to run the house and I don't know what should I do," said Manish Kapoor, whose space is outside the Golcha-Delight area.
"If the authorities come and ask us to leave, at least we will get a chance to talk to them. We are here for so long and suddenly where will we go? They can fix the area for each shopkeeper so that we can set up the market in a smaller place," he suggested.
Officials of the civic body were not available for comment, despite repeated attempts by IANS to reach them.
Even in this age of Kindles and e-books, the market along the dusty pavement from Daryaganj-Faiz Bazar crossing to Delite Cinema on Netaji Subhash Marg turns into a "darya" of books every Sunday, with something for everyone -- novels to textbooks, journals, newspapers, magazines, rare book titles, first editions of classics -- available at affordable prices.
Not just the vendors, but bibliophiles are also excited about the market reopening.
"We have our exams next month and are waiting for the market to get books. Where else I can get books at such a price in this city..." asked Anmol, who is doing his graduation from a private college in Delhi.
Said his classmate Satish: "The authorities should realise the market's importance"
( can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)
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