Traders react to imposition of fines, penalties

Business community has strongly reacted to the penalties imposed by district administration and traffic police on traders and warned to call for shutter down strike if provincial government did not stop the raids under the guise of anti-encroachment campaigns.
Talking to media persons here on Saturday Markazi Anjuman Tajiran provincial president Malik Meher Ilahi said that traffic police, district administration and town municipal administration officials were raiding different places in bazaars and imposing heavy penalties on the business community under a number of pretexts.
The trader's leader said that a meeting of the business community would soon be convened to devise future line of action and announce shutter down strike if provincial government did not stop the raids in the name of anti-encroachment drive.
"The provincial government should convene a combined meeting of all stakeholders and take decision to avoid complications," the traders' leader suggested and said that district administration, traffic police and TMA (Town-1) officials had different views about encroachment and alternate traffic routes and as a result traders had to face multiple problems.
Malik said that the business community was also against encroachment but it did not mean that government would dislodge the traders despite agreement. He said that officials of all the relevant departments should hold joint meeting with traders to negotiate and resolve the issues once and for all otherwise business community would call for shutter down strike against the imposition of heavy fines.
He said that minimum penalties imposed on the traders as per routine were from Rs 5000 to Rs 10000 which had forced many of them to shut businesses as they could not afford to pay such heavy fines.
The process of imposing fines, he said had been started since the work initiated on construction of BRT as maximum of the vehicular traffic diverted to link roads prompting commuters and travellers to sit and place their luggage on the footpaths.
In the past, he said every deputy commissioner used to convene a meeting prior to launching an anti-encroachment drive but the sitting DC didn't take the business community into confidence in this regard which complicated the situation. The other leaders of traders including Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Saleem Khan, Rahman Gul, and Shaukat Ali also shared views in this regard.