Commuters suffer as shopkeepers occupy roadsides in Mattan, other places

Locals question inaction by MCA officials

By: Ahmad Shabir

Anantnag: The busiest markets in South Kashmir’s Anantnag town, continues to witness traffic mess, causing inconvenience to both the travellers as well the pedestrians.

The occupation of roads and sidewalks by the shopkeepers is pushing the pedestrians as well as the commuters to the wall as they continue to occupy the roadsides illegally while no action is being taken against them to ensure smooth passage to the vehicular movement.

In Mattan chowk, one of the old and busy market places, shopkeepers occupy at least three to four feet road on both sides by placing either the signboards or huge cardboard boxes in front of their shops.

This illegal occupation of the road by these shopkeepers leaves little space for the vehicles to pass by from either side, thus causing messy traffic jams.

Since the road leads to two major hospitals—Government Medical College and Maternity hospital Anantnag, the patients travelling in their own vehicles face agonies as they get stuck in long and messy jams in the market.

These shopkeepers even do not allow anyone to park his or her vehicle or two-wheeler in front of their shops as they clearly refuse to remove the signboards or boxes.

Verbal brawls can be witnessed between private car owners and these shopkeepers after the later seek to park their cars even for few minutes.

“A couple of days ago, I had a consultation with the doctor for my child. As I reached the market place, I straightway went to the nearby Ranibagh car parking, which was fully occupied leaving me with no option but to return along with my car. As I reached back the market where doctors’ clinic is located, I tried to park my car on the extreme left or right to avoid traffic jam but on the both sides, shopkeepers had occupied the road in such a manner as if it is their property. For half an hour, I did not get a space for parking my car,” said Ahmadullah, a resident of Srigufwara.

After half an hour, Ahmadullah got off his car and tried to remove the huge boxes placed by shopkeepers to park his vehicle but the two shopkeepers repulsed and did not allow him to park his vehicle.

“I begged them to remove those barriers telling them that it will take him not more than half an hour to get his child examined by the doctor but they surprisingly told me to go to get his car parked at Janglat Mandi, two kms away from the locality. Then I forcibly removed the sign boards and parked my car, however on my return they had deflated the tyre of my car,” he said.

Many other people who spoke to Precious Kashmir complained of encroachment by the shopkeepers not only in Mattan Chowk but in other market places as well.

“The irony is that if someone parks his car on the roadside, the traffic authorities come and lift the same with the help of crane and later impose huge fine on the commuter but these shopkeepers are not being dealt as per the law by the authorities,” said Mubashir Khan.

He questioned the selective drive against the occupation of roads and footpaths by MCA.

“If poor vendors occupy footpaths, MCA officials come and pounce on them and even seize their stalls but I have never seen them acting against these rich shopkeepers whose greed lands the people including patients in trouble every day,” Khan said.

Chairman, MCA, Anantnag, Hilal Ahmad Shah did not respond to repeated calls from Precious Kashmir.

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