The dispute over the waste dump in Jalandhar's Model Town is still ongoing, and now the shop owners have also opened a front. To protest against government meddling in business, people have set up tents and organized a firm dharna at the dump, and all of Model Town's marketplaces have been closed for the festival season. Approximately 600 stores, showrooms, and restaurants near the roundabout were closed today in retaliation for the protests against the waste and the unnecessary actions of the departments.
The shopkeepers of Model Town said that the rent of shops in the market is lakhs of rupees. Earlier the market was closed due to Corona. Now is the first festival season which is corona free. In this, they thought that the season would be good, but the people of the departments are not letting them live.
Shopkeepers today staged a sit-in in Model Town and alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to eliminate Model Town under a well-thought-out trick. The store owners claimed that if Model Town collapses, the entire city will fail. Talking about any department, if any action has to be taken, then everyone first sees Model Town.
Rajeev Duggal, head of Model Town Mobile Market, said that sometimes the employees of the municipal corporation come to ask to remove the things from the front of the shops. The traffic police are currently approaching from behind as soon as he exits the market. He says that the vehicles will not be parked in front of the shops. Officers of any Excise, GST, and other departments reach here to check.
Akali leader and Safai Mazdoor Federation head Chandan Grewal and Aam Aadmi candidate from Jalandhar Cantt Surinder Singh Sodhi also reached dharna at Model Town dump. Chandan Grewal said that only politics is being done on the dump but no one is finding a solution. He said that the victim in this is being the poor laborer who brings garbage from the houses.
Grewal said that Seechewal is also limited to Bein. It would have been good if he would come here and met the garbage collectors and solve their problems. He said that PPR Mall and Jalandhar Heights contributed the biggest to the increase in Model Town.
Surinder Singh Sodhi, who was AAP's candidate from Model Town Cantt, said that when Cantt MLA Pargat Singh left Akali Dal and joined Congress, he became MLA only on the issue of Jamsher dump. That dump got closed and didn't get its replacement. Now the garbage is increasing in the Model Town dump. The issue on which he became an MLA has now been forgotten.