Road widening dispute: Ayodhya admn reaches out to traders

District magistrate of Ayodhya Nitish Kumar met traders at their commercial establishments in Naya Ghat to address their concern. On traders’ demand of minimum compensation of ₹5 lakh and maximum of ₹20 lakh, the district magistrate assured them to again carry out survey of shops that were to be demolished.

Lucknow: The Ayodhya administration on Tuesday reached out to agitating traders to end the deadlock on the road widening project in which a large number of shops and commercial establishments will be demolished.

Accepting another demand of traders, the district magistrate permitted them to demolish their shops on their own by December 15. (Pic for representation)

District magistrate of Ayodhya Nitish Kumar met traders at their commercial establishments in Naya Ghat to address their concern.

On traders’ demand of minimum compensation of ₹5 lakh and maximum of ₹20 lakh, the district magistrate assured them to again carry out survey of shops that were to be demolished.

Accepting another demand of traders, the district magistrate permitted them to demolish their shops on their own by December 15.

“The district magistrate met traders today and assured them to address their concern,” said Nand Lal Gupta, trader leader.

The Ayodhya administration also assured traders to constitute a committee of shop-owners, their tenants and district officials to resolve dispute between shop-owners and tenants.

Owners of a large number of shops that are being demolished have disputes with their tenants. These shops are with tenants for the past several decades.

However, the district administration gave no written assurance for curtailing road widening on 13-km long Ram Path up to 20 metres from 24 metres. The Ayodhya administration only gave verbal assurance to traders on the issue.