Srinagar: Dismissing the protests the Wakf authorities said that they wont budge from their decision.
Vice Chairman of the Board Peer Mohammad Hussian told KNS that those people who run their business on Wakf properties like shops and buildings are paying peanuts as rent to the board.
It is a grave injustice with the property by the shopkeepers who are paying peanuts as rent. In markets like Amira Kadal and Hazratbal, shopkeepers pay tens of thousands as rent to their owners, but the shopkeepers on Wakf property pay rupees 100 or 150 as rent for a month, Hussain told KNS.
What kind of justice is it with the property which belongs to the public, he said.
Hussain said that the hike in rent was considered after an assessment by a reputed firm of India.
Now we have fixed the hike as per todays market rate. We will not change our decision as it is going t benefit public as we can generate huge revenue from our property, he said.
He explained that the money that we can earn from the Wakf properties can be utilized for creating infrastructure. We can build universities, colleges, schools and other useful infrastructure from the money that we will earn as rent like other boards are doing, he said, adding that why cant Wakf create properties that can benefit public.
He expressed surprise that the people to whom the property is rented have not paid their rents to the board from the last many years.
The shopkeepers form Hazratbal created hooliganism in Wakf office by beating some employees. But, the board wont succumb to their hooliganism, he said. (KNS)
Shutdown, Protest in Hazratbal
Srinagar: All the shopkeepers in Hazratbal and its adjacent areas observed a complete shutdown to protest against the diktats of Wakaf Board.
The protesting shopkeepers who later on staged a protest in Press Enclave Srinagar alleged that in a bid to mint money from the naïve shopkeepers, the Wakaf Board has arbitrarily hiked the rent of their shops which they own from past four decades.
How can Wakaf Board increase the rent without taking us on board? The Board has recently issued a notification directing shopkeepers to pay rent on square feet basis. This is sheer injustice. The Board is violating the norms of the agreement that it has entered with the shopkeepers community, Muhammad Rafiq Khan, president Hazratbal Shopkeepers Association told CNS adding that from past few years the Wakaf Board has increased their rentals 100 times.
They threatened to start an agitation and lock the Wakaf Board office if the Board did not revoke its latest order pertaining to rental increase.
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