A storm of betrayal brews in the heart of Gokulpeth Market as 237 shop and otta owners stare at a future built on broken promises and bulldozers. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has served vacate notices, but made no plan for relocation. Instead, it has disowned dozens of genuine traders by listing only six mutton shops, while 12 meat and fish outlets actually operate—including Harish, Kishor, Taj, Ujaneya, and Major Chicken Centres.
With no answers, no support, and their shops missing from the official list, many owners fear they’ll be erased from both land and record.
To make matters worse, ₹1.76 crore in rent and GST for 2024-25 is being demanded—ironically after NMC itself refused to accept payments for nearly two years.
Kalu Lala Vyas, of Gokulpeth Bazar Vyapari Sangh, says traders begged officials to accept dues, only to be met with silence. “It was all deliberate—to weaken our claim, to label us as illegal,” he said.
Shopkeepers now live in terror. Some have stocked diesel, threatening to self-immolate if the JCBs arrive. “We will burn before you demolish us,” one trader declared.
President Ramkumar Kamnani pleaded for temporary relocation—like in Ram Nagar Ground—but NMC has ignored all cries.
Each shuttered shop means a family starves. Each ignored plea brings us closer to tragedy. And still, NMC shrugs.
What’s left in Gokulpeth is not just a market. It’s dignity under siege, and hope hanging by a thread.
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