Livelihood threatened: Shop owners at Rehri Market reject eviction notices

Say no alternative suggested by Haripur DC who says land belongs to district

HARIPUR:

Kiosks owners at Rehri Market, situated where Old Bus Stand used to be, have threatened to protest if the district administration evicts them.

Talking to The Express Tribune on Monday, Rehri Hawker Union Vice President Aurangzeb said all 109 kiosk owners of Rehri Market were issued notices by the office of the Haripur assistant commissioner on February 12, asking them to vacate the space within the next 15 days.

Aurangzeb added, “The kiosks are located on land allotted to them in 1992 by the then municipal committee, now known as Tehsil Municipal Administration.” He said 109 pushcart owners were allotted the space to free up the roads in the main market.

The owners were asked to start selling fruits and vegetables by setting up wooden kiosks on a space of 6x8 feet.

An investment

According to Aurangzeb, each kiosk owner spent Rs15,200 on the prefabricated wooden structure. Each owner also pays a monthly rent of Rs260 to TMA – the rent increased from Rs70 per month circa 1992.

“Not only that,” Aurangzeb added, “In the last five years, kiosks burnt down twice, rendering a loss of thousands to each owner and leaving them in debt. “Kiosk owners then owed money to wholesalers for
their stocks,” he said.

Aurangzeb said the notices issued by the Haripur AC do not state if and where the kiosk owners were being relocated. All the shop owners were extremely worried as they fear this step would affect their livelihood.

“We will not allow the administration to deprive us of our right to a livelihood and we would resist with the law,” Yunas, a kiosk owner, said. He added kiosks owners were already under the debt of wholesalers of fruits and vegetables. In case they are evicted, their children would suffer a great deal, said Yunas.

Nowhere to go

Yunas said political leaders have made many hollow promises to convert the kiosks into concrete shops but never followed through.

“Now the eviction notice, which is without any substitute location, has put our source of income at stake,” he added.

“We are not going to vacate the kiosks unless we are provided with another place within the city,” Yusuf, another kiosk owner, said. He added there are three persons at each kiosk hence the “arbitrary decision” would increase joblessness. “Kiosk owners would also go to the court against the decision, in addition to protesting.”

Haripur Deputy Commissioner Taslim Khan was not available for comments. However one of his employees, requesting anonymity, said the place was the property of office of the DC. The contract — if any made in the past by TMA — was against the law, he added.

He said without approval of the DC, giving the Old Bus Stand area—a prime location—to kiosk owners was an illegal step. “It came to the notice of Taslim Khan a couple of weeks ago that the land was under the DC, according to the revenue department’s record.” He said the district administration has a plan to construct offices and houses on the Rehri Market land as the administration was short
of offices.

In the early 1990s, the district administration relocated the bus stand to land owned by former provincial minister, Yusuf Ayub. This left the space now used by Rehri Market useless.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2016.