Gurugram, April 16 -- The department of state transport, Haryana, will hold the auction for commercial spaces inside bus stands in Gurugram, Sohna, and Pataudi on April 28, nearly a year after first announced, to provide shops for restaurants, tea stalls and other businesses, on a lease basis, an official said on Wednesday. The auction will take place on the premises of Sector 12 bus stand in Gurugram, a transport department senior official, Vimal Sharma, told HT. The move follows a series of complaints by interested businesspersons about the delay in the auction and the increased rental pressure. HT spoke to a few shopkeepers at the Sector-12 bus stand in Gurugram. "We have been waiting for the auction for over a year now; the authorities just keep pushing the dates. It puts additional strain on us as the rent keeps increasing year after year," said a shoe seller who did not wish to be named. "I rented the shop at Rs.8,000 per month seven years ago; now I pay Rs.21,000 for the same shop," he said. Several shopkeepers are afraid to vacate the premises, fearing they will lose their security deposit. A tea and refreshments shop operator, Binod Kumar, said, "Over Rs.9 lakh, almost all my savings, are put in the security deposit for the shop. I can't even think of vacating the shop, or I will be on the streets." According to the transport department's rules, shopkeepers who wish to put up a shop on the bus stand premises must pay a security deposit equal to three months' rent. The shop's rent is collected quarterly. The official clarified that the transport department does not hold back the deposit unless there are outstanding dues. When asked about the reason behind the delay in the auction, Sharma said, "The auction was originally scheduled for April last year, but all the officials were engaged in election work (local bodies polls), leading to the postponement of the auction."...