The evacuation and demolition of commercial spaces illegally located on the public domain of the state started on Wednesday morning at the Stefan cel Mare metro station, the Ministry of Transport announced.
The deadline for the release of the commercial spaces located inside the metro stations expired on Friday, April 2, according to a notification sent by Metrorex to the company that manages these units, agerpres.ro confirms.
In a press release sent to AGERPRES on March 25, Metrorex representatives said that this measure was taken because, following field analyses, it was found that commercial spaces operating in the subway network endanger the safety of underground transport, affecting direct fire safety requirements and evacuation of people in case of emergency.
In reply, the representatives of the Unitatea - Sindicatul Liber din Metrou (USLM) specified that all the subway stores were built according to the legislation in force, with the approval of Metrorex, and 80 percent of them are the property of the subway unions.
The Minister of Transports, Catalin Drula, underlined, in his turn, that, should those kiosks not be removed until the deadline, "the law will be restored".
On March 26, the movement of subway trains was blocked by a spontaneous protest of some representatives of the USLM union in the Unirii Square station, as they descended into the tunnel, on the taxiway.
Minister Catalin Drula blamed the protest on the announcement regarding the release of the commercial spaces and advised the employees of the subway not to be deceived.