Hajin: Traders in Hajin town in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district held a silent sit-in on Wednesday to protest against the poor condition of the main road in the market area.
The Traders Federation Hajin also shut down their shops for an hour as a mark of protest. They said they were suffering because the government had not resurfaced the road for the last six years, despite claiming to have given top priority to road development in the valley.
Mushtaq Ahmad, president of the federation, told Kashmir Reader that the town had faced enough injustice and neglect. “We are suffering due to the poor condition of roads. Hardly any customer turns up and the health of traders is also worsening with the dust around,” he said.
Both the Roads & Buildings Department and the Urban Local Bodies Department played with the sentiments of the people, as the road stretch from the main market Hajin had been left unattended for several years, Ahmad alleged.
He demanded that macadamisation of the road should start at the earliest, or else they would intensify their agitation.
Iqbal Ahmad, a local shopkeeper, said that the R&B Department had macadamised the road from Gundjahingir to Vijpara and on the other end, they macadamised it from Bonikhan to Mir Mohalla Hajin. “But the main stretch leading to the market was deliberately ignored for reasons known only to the concerned authorities,” he said.
Iqbal said the road which was filled with gravel and stones posed a health hazard and a risk of injury to the locals. “Stones stuck under the tyres of vehicles pose risk to both commuters as well as shopkeepers. We can’t open our shops, as the dust from the road chokes us. Those living on and along the road end get suffocated by dust,” he said.

GOWHAR MAQBOOL