KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation on Wednesday evicted the petty shops situated on Vivekananda Road near the Ernakulam South Railway Station as part of its canal-cleaning drive. However, a Milma booth had to be forcefully evicted after the owner of the shop refused to cooperate with the authorities. The booth was owned by Khalid Mundapilly, a renowned social activist. It was Khalid who moved the High Court against organising meetings and processions on public roads. As many as 10 petty shops, built over the drainage, were evicted to undertake the cleaning drive. According to the Corporation officials, a notice directing the shop owners to evict the area was served last week. “The shopkeepers were notified before the eviction. The owner of the Milma Booth, Khalid Mundapilly, had to be forcefully evicted,” said Mayor Tony Chanmmany. Meanwhile, Khalid Mundapally claimed that the shopkeepers had special permission from the High Court to set up shops there. “I have the permission of the government to put up the shop there. Moreover, I didn’t get any notice from the Corporation in this regard. However, Deputy Mayor B Bhadra had approached us with a request to move,” he said. Mundapilly alleged that the eviction drive was carried out to favour the rich hotels and the move is a contempt of court,” he said. Meanwhile, other shopkeepers said that they had already been notified about the drive and had been granted permission to carry on with their business after the drainage has been cleared. “However, we are unaware as to how many days the drive would take,” they said.“I have been running a shop here for the last 14 years. This is not the first time we were asked to evacuate. Around six years back, the drainage was cleaned and we could set the shops back in spot after the process,” said Shivashankaran, a shop owner.The drainage overflows during monsoon causing road blocks. The drive was monitored by the Deputy Mayor. A number of police officials were also deployed.
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