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Uttar Pradesh govt harassing Ayodhya traders, alleges Akhilesh
The Samajwadi Party chief to visit temple city on Jan 27 to take stock of the situation after the demolition of the shops and houses of the traders located on the Ram Path road widening project
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will visit Ayodhya on January 27 to take stock of the situation after the demolition of the shops and houses of the traders located on the Ram Path road widening project.
On Thursday, Yadav alleged that traders were being terrorised and their property and business had been destroyed. “The state government is harassing the local traders and giving special packages as well as reservation to the traders and industrialists from Gujarat to establish their businesses,” he further alleged.
Expressing concern over the plight of Ayodhya traders, Yadav said, “The state government should give maximum compensation to the traders whose shops and houses have been demolished. The state government should also assist them by constructing shops and houses at a nearby spot. The state government has enough funds to assist the traders as it has raised large funds from the donation made for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.”
A group of traders whose shops have been demolished met the SP chief at the party’s state unit office on Thursday. Later, the traders recounted their suffering in a press conference addressed by the SP chief.
The traders alleged that their establishments were demolished on short notices and they had not been given adequate compensation. They were forced to spend night under the open sky with their family members, they alleged.
The district administration was terrorising and threatening them, they further alleged. They were running their businesses for generations and after the demolition of their establishments, they had been left jobless, the traders alleged.
Former Uttar Pradesh minister Tej Narayan Pandey aka Pawan Pandey, who led the traders’ delegation, alleged, “Instead of giving compensation, the district administration officers are demanding cuts from traders. The local traders are forced to leave the temple city while the traders from Delhi and Gujarat are invited to set up their establishments there.”
