SHILLONG: The Polo market under Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) which is touted as “Times square”, is yet to become functional even though the building was inaugurated with much fanfare last month by the Urban Affairs Minister, Hamlet Dohling.
The shop allottees who have been eagerly awaiting to move in, are wondering what was the delay about.
Official sources clarified that they were in the process of regularizing and rationalizing the documents of the lessee who will be allotted a permanent stall in the market
There will be no new addition to the list of the people who will be allotted a shop in the market and the stalls in the market are meant strictly for those who earlier had a shop in same market area.
It is said that the inauguration of the Building last month was a token inauguration of the building pending handing over of lease documents to those whose names figure in the original list. According to sources, the SMB is in the process of allotting shops to the genuine stakeholders and process was taking some time.
Responding to a query about the existence of several shops right at the entry of the market, sources said that those shops within the vicinity of the building would be cleared gradually. Government intends to build a shopping complex there for which tenders are being finalized.
The project was started in March 2017 and the projected date of completion was December 31, 2019 involving cost of Rs 21.41 crore.
The Polo Market complex was designed to rehabilitate road side vendors and hawkers of the market and remove the haphazard and ugly looks of the area.
The Polo market has been funded by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The plot area of the market is 3000 sq.m.