5,000 Govt shops remain shut to keep Hurriyat’s shop open

J&K Govt is the biggest taker of Geelani’s shutdown calls in Srinagar

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 26: Hapless Gullas and Sullas shut one or two or three shops each but Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s government happens to be the biggest contributor to the success of separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s unending calls for total shutdown and ‘civil curfew’ in Kashmir valley. Over 5,000 shops of different departments of the state government, allotted to residents of Srinagar, remain shut on the diktats of separatist leaders and militants in this capital city----mostly in the Civil Lines areas and fashionable markets spread between Jehangir Chowk and Boulevard. With the business having come to a grinding halt since June this year, Valley has observed over 1750 days of shutdown (nearly 5 years) since the armed conflict erupted in 1989.

Omar Abdullah may play it down as an ‘inheritance of loss’ but the fact remains that, during 22 months of his government, continued shutdown for over one hundred days, particularly around the seat of power in the capital city, has served as a big statement of the separatists’ writ running large. In absence of an efficacious mechanism, authorities may well be helpless before the traders---whether they shut their shops for their political conviction and regard to the separatist movement or under the fear of grenades and stones. But, the successive governments’ lack of initiative appears to be more than evident in the matter of the government’s own commercial properties.

According to the official statistics available with Early Times, Government of Jammu and Kashmir owns more than 5,000 shops, mostly in the top business areas from Jehangir Chowk to Boulevard. From time to time, these shops have been leased out to private persons for the purpose of making their livelihood and keeping merchandise of sorts available to the customers. All the agreements invariably mention that the allotments could be withdrawn and the properties taken back for genuine use by fresh bidders and contenders if the same were not used for convenience of the common public.

Authoritative sources said that the lately appointed Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Asgar Hassan Samoon, known for his bold action as Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag against the public property grabbers, has been assigned with a challenging task. Embarrassed with continued shutdown in Srinagar Civil Lines, Omar Abdullah government is understood to have asked Asgar Samoon to do what all of his predecessors, including elder brother Masood Samoon, have failed to do. Veterinary surgeon-turned-IAS officer from the border areas of Gurez, Asgar is succeeding in the hot seat a many veterans, including his relatives Masood Samoon, Khursheed Ahmed Ganai and Basharat Ahmed Dhar. He also happens to be the brother-in-law to high profile but controversial bureaucrat Iqbal Khanday.

Asgar Samoon could be reached over telephone but he dropped the line on the very introduction. However, sources in his office revealed that an exercise was already underway to find the number of the shops situated in government properties, those sub-let or disposed off illegally and the possibility of keeping the business establishments open on the days of Hurriyat-sponsored shutdown. Documents made available to the Divisional Commissioner mention that Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) was the owner of as many as 1576 shops established in its properties, followed by Srinagar Development Authority (1500 shops), R&B Department (805), Estates Department (251) and Custodian of Evacuees Properties (212).

Sources said that, in addition, J&K State Road Transport Corporation was the owner of nearly 40 shops, including a post office, a branch of J&K Bank Ltd, a cooperative joint (Apna Bazar) and a major business outlet of J&K State Handicrafts Sales & Export Corporation in the ground floor of its Lala Rukh building at Lalchowk. These all remain shut on the day of a bandh inspite of being the CRPF-guarded accommodation of a large number of Durbar Move officials.

In addition to these 4400 shops, Government-controlled Wakf Board happens to be the owner of major business complexes, including Hotel Gulmarg at Boulevard, Sulaiman Shopping Complex at Dalgate as also a major 4-storeyed business centre of more than 200 shops at Budshah Chowk. None other than Chief Minister---always a Muslim---is the supreme controller of the Wakf Board. Officials said that Wakf Board and SRTC were yet to submit the detail of their shops but the state-controlled religious organization was estimated to be the owner of 600 to 1,000 shops in Srinagar alone.

Additional Commissioner, Abdul Majeed Mir, confirmed to Early Times that a high level committee, headed by him, had been constituted by the Divisional Commissioner and it had held ‘just an introductory meeting’ on Monday. He said that 1,000 to 2,000 shopkeepers were believed to have sub let the government-owned shops in violation of contract. Exact number of the defaulters, according to him, would be available in a couple of days, following which the authorities would launch an unprecedented exercise to either take back the possession and issue fresh allotment in favour of unemployed youth or ensure that these remained functional on all days of business, as prescribed by Labour Commissioner, irrespective of calls for shutdown.

DC Srinagar Meraj Ahmed Kakroo, Vice Chairman Srinagar Development Authority Syed Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Vice Chairman of LAWDA Irfan Yasin, Labour Commissioner Shahid Inayatullah, Director Local Bodies Farooq Reenzu, Director Employment Shafat Noor, Custodian General Lateef-uz-Zamaan Deva and Director of Estates Khursheed Ahmed Shah have been appointed as members of the Task Force.

“We are not at fault. Who of the shopkeepers would like to keep his business shut and become bankrupt?” said a shopkeeper, Abdul Majeed Mir. He claimed that the shopkeepers, particularly those in Civil Lines markets, had been repeatedly asking the government to provide for them a safe and secure environment to enable them carry out their business but the officials had never responded. Yet another shopkeeper spewed cynicism. “Officers know that Pagrhi (face value) of our premises ranges between Rs 40 Lakh to Rs 80 Lakh. They will just blackmail the defaulters (unauthorized sub lessees), extort huge amounts of money from them and finally tell the Chief Minister that persuasion in a continuous process would be a more intelligent exercise”, he said on the condition of anonymity.

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