DESPITE High Court orders that shopkeepers cannot be evicted without alternative arrangements, the BJP-JD(U) government is illegally evicting shopkeepers between the Station Complex and GPO Golambar in Bihar’s capital city Patna. Around 1 lakh families are dependent for jobs on the thousands of shops that have been running for about 70 years on Khas Mahal land. The Bihar government is bent on throwing out these shopkeepers without making any alternative arrangements for them. During a demolition drive, two traders died of shock.
CPIML MLA Mahboob Alam and other Party leaders held a meeting with the shopkeepers and a protest sit-in (dharna) was planned. The dharna led by Mahboob Alam started at 4 pm on 14 June 2019. The indefinite dharna made the administration panic and they put pressure to end the dharna, but ML leaders made it clear that the agitation would continue until the demands were met. The leaders will soon be meeting the Chief Minister to demand a speedy and fair solution. They demanded a survey of the shops and a list to be made with the collaboration of the shopkeepers’ association and the government, as well as full rehabilitation prior to demolition of the shops. Shopkeepers who participated in the dharna included Razi Ahmed, Mohd Umar, Mohd Irfan and Footpath Association leader Shahzade.
