Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Feb 11: The traders and businessmen of South Kashmir’s Shopian are aghast over the failure of the district administration as well as the Municipal Committee Shopian in clearing the snow from the roadsides even after a passage of over a month now.
The members of the business community in Shopian’s main chowk told Excelsior that though the snow from roads has been cleared, however, the same has been pushed towards the roadsides which has blocked almost all the shops that are operating from the market.
“They did clear the road, but you can see mounds of snow in front of the shops due to which our trade has taken a hit,” Azad Mir who is the Vice President of Shopian Traders Federation told Excelsior.
He said that they brought the issue repeatedly into the notice of the district administration, but to no avail.
“Leave this aside, there still are lanes and by-lanes in the town from which the snow has not been cleared as yet and it will take months to melt on its own,” the traders said.
Apart from roadsides, there are also several spots where the footpaths are all covered with the snow with administration particularly the Municipal Committee Shopian not paying any heed to it.
The traders said that due to the inaction of the administration, their business has taken a hit as the shops remain inaccessible to the customers and also they have to undergo a lot of trouble themselves in opening up the shops in the morning.
“Nobody appears to be paying any heed to our issues even as they know that the business community has already suffered huge losses due to various reasons and now instead of facilitating us in carrying out our business, they are rather creating hurdles for the same,” the traders said while urging the administration to look into the matter without any delay.
The heaps of snow on the roadsides are creating problems particularly for the small ventures that have invested everything into it and are not able to carry out their business.
“Those who have big ventures than us might not consider it as an issue, but for the small enterprises this is a lot. It has already consumed two months now and if the same attitude of the administration continues, the problem might persist for some more time,” said Bilal Ahmad a trader in the district.
The President Municipal Committee Shopian, Subash Chandra Koul, told Excelsior that he will direct the concerned to do the needful in this regard.
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