The Defence Colony Market, now famous as “DEF COL,” all over India has been going through various transformations in the last few decades to provide day-to-day services to the residents as its local market. As Samvada editor and a resident of the colony for approximately six decades, I met a few prominent shop owners, residents, and authorities to get more details. The following are the updates:
The current scenario of Def Col Market:
• The Defence Colony Market was planned to cater to the residents as a local market for daily need items, but over the years, it became famous as the food market for the residents as well as for the entire Delhi.
• The single-storey market became a multi-storey market in the last 2-3 decades, with many fast-food joints and pubs. These additional units also created issues for the civic authorities as the electricity, water, sewage, etc. increased manifolds, resulting in water stagnation, more garbage around the market, the need for more parking, etc.
• A few new facilities for the youth, like coffee shops and cafés, also increased the footfall in the market to drive more business for the shop owners.
• There were a few cases of thefts in the shops due to the non-availability of security in the market during the night. The shopkeepers created their association and installed approximately 50 cameras with a control room at the Defence Colony Police Station.
• Parking in the market was free for many decades for the residents of Defence Colony, but over the years, it was given to parking contractors through an annual auction that runs into lakhs of rupees. Now even to purchase medicine for 30-50 rupees, the residents have to pay 50 rupees.
• Due to the vast commercialisation of the Def Col Market, the number of units, users, and garbage also increased with each passing month, and the dhalao is always full and not cleared by the MCD for a long time. There is no facility to clean the market on Sundays when the MCD staff is on leave, and the number of visitors is much higher than on weekdays.
We interacted with the three generations of one of the most prominent stores – DEFENCE COLONY- who have been operating their shop since 1972 in the market. Gupta, his sons, Manoj and Pramod, and grandsons feel proud to cater to the Defence Colony residents for their daily needs for more than five decades. During this period, their small shop has become a supermarket with the best service to the residents who keep visiting Defence Store or order home deliveries. The Guptas are famous for their “SERVICE WITH SMILE”. Manoj Gupta also shared details about the sealing of the first floor and above, basements, etc. for many years. While eight shops were allowed after paying the charges to the MCD, other shop owners are still waiting for the de-sealing of their floors to provide more services to the residents.
