Shopkeepers allege favouritism by district administration

Every year, the allocation of cracker stalls put up for Diwali is mired in controversy of alleged favouritism. Keeping in the tradition, this festive season is no different. Shopkeepers on the Pakhowal Road and BRS Nagar protested during a lucky draw, which led to the postponement of the event.

When the lucky draw began this morning, the shopkeepers started raising slogans against the district administration for alleged irregularities in the allocation of sites. The shopkeepers alleged that the administration has been continuously favouring the VIPs of the city in allocating the sites.

As soon as General Assistant to Deputy Commissioner J K Jain announced that for the Pakhowal Road and Orient Cinema locality, the shopkeepers gathered at the centre of the hall where the draw was taking place and tore away the slips of the lucky draw.

The traders alleged that the new allottees are the kin of VIPs in the city. For the Pakhowal Road, the district administration had received 291 applications for 20 shops out of which 13 shops have been already allocated while for the Orient Cinema locality, 200 applications were received for 30 sites. Of these, 17 sites have been allocated on a similar pattern.

The shopkeepers led by Youth Congress leader Komal Khanna and Youth BJP leader Sanjay Kapoor staged protest at the venue and demanded the cancellation of the lucky draw.

The cracker sellers are allocated shops in more than half a dozen places across the city including on Pakhowal Road, Tajpur Road, Sector 39, Dugri Phase 1, Sector 39, Rishi Nagar, Model Town Extension and Grain Market.