Panipat,
Enraged over challan by the municipal corporation’s (MC) officials, shopowners in Palika market on Wednesday protested against the MC authority and closed the market.

The shopowners gathered at the Palika market and protested against the MC officials on the issuance of challan to two shopkeepers. They shut down their establishments for over three hours.

The shopowners alleged that the MC teams challaned some shopowners on Tuesday after a biker came in front of the car of the Joint Commissioner.

Krishan Aggarwal, president of the Palika market shopowners’ association, alleged that a contractor taking care of the parking in the market was creating problems and all shopkeepers had demanded the MC authority around 15 days back to remove him and they were ready to run the parking on their own.

He said in a meeting with the Commissioner, MC, around 15 days back, he was ready to hand over the parking to the association, but not has been done so far.

The shopowners held a meeting with Shiv Prasad Sharma, Commissioner, MC, and Suman Bhankar, Joint Commissioner. Suman refuted the allegations and said the contract of parking had been cancelled and the parking would be allotted only for bikes.