Tral”: A number of shopkeepers whose shops were razed by the government last year in the Tral town area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district demand rehabilitation.
A delegation of affected shopkeepers from Subdivision Tral told Kashmir Reader that around 50 shops were razed down in March of 2020 in the town.
“The authorities had promised us that that they would rehabilitate us but that didn’t happen till date due to which we face lot of troubles,” Abdul Jabbar, an affected Shopkeeper, said, adding that the shops were constructed by a local organisation in the bus stand area some 40 years ago when Tral was not much developed.
” I am an aged person and at this stage I am unable to do manual labour for earning a livelihood for my family,” Jabbar said, pleading the government to speed up the process of their rehabilitation so that they don’t suffer further.
Another Shopkeeper told that their shops were dismantled without serving them proper notices.
” All items of the shop were lost as we were not given time to shift them , ” he said, adding that it caused huge loss.
The aggrieved shopkeeper told the media that he is selling brooms to earn a livelihood for his family.
The aggrieved shopkeepers requested LG government and Deputy Commissioner Pulwama Baseer -Ul-Haq Choudhary to look into their grievance at an earliest.
Trade Union President Tral ,Ishfaq Ahmad Kar, told Kashmir Reader that the previous government had identified 18 kanals of land.
“It was decided that the union will construct the new shops and a monthly rent will be paid to Municipal Committee Tral,” he said, adding that the proposal was thrown into the dustbin and they have been struggling since then.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Tral Shabir Ahmad Raina told Kashmir Reader that they have submitted an estimate of rupees 4 crore to the government in this regard.
“Once it is approved the affected shopkeepers will be accommodated,” he said.

BILAL HABIB