Angry phariwallas burn councillor's effigy

chandigarh: an angry mob of nearly 200 phariwallas who were cane-charged in front of municipal corporation building, staged a dharna at the residence of the the sector 22 area councillor, des raj tandon. the phariwallas burnt his effigy and shouted slogans outside his residence for nearly two hours on wednesday. the phariwallas alleged that it was the responsibility of the area councillor to protect their livelihood as they were initially uprooted from sector 22 market.they demanded immediate allotment of land to carry on their business. the phariwallas reiterated that they were against the `day market' scheme proposed by the mcc and demanded that they be allotted a permanent site. nearly 50 police personnel, including asp (central), hgs dhaliwal and sho, ps malik, were present near the councillor's residence in sector 22-d to prevent any untoward incident. it may be recalled that the phariwallas were allotted a temporary site in sector 40 and were disallowed to carry their business on sunday. the phariwallas had been protesting since then and were cane-charged on in front of the mcc building on tuesday in which six were injured. the phariwallas specifically protested in front of the sector 22 councillor's residence as they alleged that they were initially removed from this sector where they were doing business for the last 15 years. the councillor, des raj tandon, termed the protest as unjustified and emphasised that the day market scheme was the only alternative it had been passed by the general house of the mcc. he also said that certain modifications could be done, but the scheme could not be scrapped altogether. he disclosed that two persons representing the phari market association had come to his house on tuesday evening, with a letter stating that they would hold a peaceful dharna in front of his house. but their intentions were far from being peaceful as some of the phariwallas had reportedly brought bags full of stones.