Meerut: Garh Road Closure Under CM Grid Scheme Hits 800 Shops, Wedding Venues

Municipal Corporation officials have announced a one-month closure of the road stretch from Gandhi Ashram to Tejgarhi intersection for widening work under the CM Grid scheme. This closure is expected to significantly impact local businesses, residents, and schools along Garh Road.

Impact On Businesses And Residents

The planned closure raises several concerns:

Businesses Affected: Approximately 800 shops located on this section of Garh Road will face disruptions.

Wedding Venues: The 10 wedding venues (mandaps) in the area anticipate a complete shutdown of business, especially critical as the wedding season begins on November 1st.

Schools: Children attending the 25 small and large schools along the route will experience difficulties commuting.

Colony Residents: People living in the 15 colonies (including Samrat Palace, Vaishali, Panchsheel, Bank Colony, Jaidevi Nagar, Shiv Sarovar) with lanes opening onto Garh Road will face daily travel challenges.

Trader Protests And Demands

Traders protested on Tuesday, specifically against the plan to completely demolish a culvert in front of Hotel Harmony Inn without providing an alternative route first.

Key concerns voiced by the traders include:

Timeline Guarantee: Vipul Singhal, president of the Joint Garh Road Trade Committee, highlighted a previous project delay where a culvert construction near Mangal Pandey Nagar took four months instead of the promised one month. Traders are demanding a written guarantee from officials that the current widening work will indeed be completed within the stated one-month timeframe.

Alternative Route: They insist that an alternative passage should be created before demolishing the culvert near Hotel Harmony Inn to prevent a complete halt to their businesses. While acknowledging losses due to the widening itself, they state the culvert demolition without an alternative is unacceptable.

Timing: The work, originally expected before Diwali, is starting just as the wedding season commences, leading to fears of severe financial losses for wedding venues as bookings are unlikely during the disruption.

Lack of Consultation: Traders feel they should have been consulted before the route diversion was planned, and provisions for car/two-wheeler movement should be made before closing the road.

Also Read: Muzaffarnagar Air Quality Plunges To 'Hazardous,' AQI Worse Than Delhi

Trader Statements

Vipul Singhal (Saat Phere Resort): "We are not against the road widening, but completely demolishing the culvert in front of Hotel Harmony Inn is wrong. Create an alternative route first."

Manoj Gupta (Radha Govind Mandap): "Widening is good, but the administration should ensure no one's business comes to a standstill. Wedding venue owners will suffer greatly."

Vipul Kumar (Timbak-Too): "They should have spoken to traders before diverting the route. Close the road only after arranging passage for cars and two-wheelers."

Also Read: 'Society Will Not Forgive Us': Supreme Court Asks Centre To Ensure Compensation To Doctors Who Died Of Covid

Vikas Mittal (Raja-Rani Mandap): "Losses from widening will happen. But demolishing the culvert near Hotel Harmony Inn will stop business completely. This shouldn't happen."

Naveen Arora (Hotel Harmony Inn): "Road closure will cause major losses as customers can't reach us. Demolishing the culvert blocks the entire route, bringing business to a standstill."