Ludhiana shopkeepers urge CM to intervene over serving of CLU notices by MC

The shopkeepers rued that the CLU charges do not apply to shops that were established decades back and are supposed to be collected before the establishment of shops

With the municipal corporation (MC) continuing to tighten the noose around the shopkeepers for their failure to deposit the change of land use (CLU) charges, the shopkeepers in Ghumar Mandi have now approached the chief minister’s office for intervention.

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The shopkeepers wrote a letter to the CM Captain Amarinder Singh urging him to direct the MC to roll back the CLU notices otherwise, they would be forced to raise an agitation against the civic body and the government.

The shopkeepers rued that the CLU charges do not apply to shops that were established decades back and are supposed to be collected before the establishment of shops.

Happy Banzer, president of the Ghumar Mandi malls and shopkeepers’ welfare society, said,” Most of the shops had been established even before the CLU norms came into existence. The MC is harassing the shopkeepers and, we will not let them claim the CLU charges. We have written to the CM seeking his intervention.”

Earlier, the shopkeepers and Gurpreet Gogi, area councillor-cum-chairman of Punjab State Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC), had conducted a meeting with mayor Balkar Sandhu in mid of September and had opposed the move.

The shopkeepers had also staged a protest in the market on Wednesday and, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal had decided to move the court against the civic body in this regard.

As per MC officials, around 2,300 notices have been served to shopkeepers across the city. Many have already submitted the fee.

MC joint commissioner Kulpreet Singh said that the notices had been served after discussing the matter with mayor Balkar Sandhu and senior officials.

The shopkeepers have also been given an option to pay the charges in instalments.