Collapse weighs heavy on ground floor shops

THE DAYS after the Union Budget usually see sales of books on direct and indirect taxes and related topics soar. But with three major book stores under the collapsed structure closed for precaution’s sake, shopowners are staring at losses running into lakhs.

“Like every year, we were expecting to sell books to those affected by the Budget. But we got a call this morning and rushed to CP to find this mess. Our shops have been sealed by authorities,” Vaishalik Jain, owner of Jain Book Agency, said.

Shopowners sat a few feet from the debris, staring at their shuttered ground-floor shops.

A book shop owner who did not wish to be named said he makes about Rs 5 lakh a day in sales, and shops remaining closed — for weeks or months — will be “disastrous”. Shopowners felt construction work by the leasee to build a restaurant in what used to be a house had disturbed the building’s structural stability.

Nabhi Kumar Jain, owner of the nearby Jain Book Depot that was allowed to operate, said, “Restaurants have been mounting huge generator sets, ACS and water tanks on roofs, overloading them. This was bound to happen.”

But a manager at a bar in Block C refuted Jain’s allegations. “We cannot drive a nail into a wall without NDMC permission, leave alone putting large generator sets and water tanks on the roof. Over the last two years, 50 new restaurants have come up here. But that’s because good food is what people want,” he said.

Atul Bhargava, president of the CP Market Association, said, “First-floor sections are small residential quarters and the rent is cheaper. Since traditional shops can’t draw customers to the first floor, a few food joints tried their luck three years ago and it worked. The lease to this flat was signed a few months ago.”