Suhail Dar
The district Administration in Anantnag, South Kashmir has locked down the decades-old taxi stand in the Dak Bungalow area of Khanabal, leaving hundreds of drivers workless on an otherwise busy Sunday.
Eyewitness accounts reveal that on Friday, around 6 PM the officials of the district administration along with several teams reached the taxi stand and locked down its gate after they downed its board, causing panic among the drivers, who say they had been served no prior notice, a claim refuted by officials whom The Kashmiriyat spoke to.
Nazir Ahmed, the president of the taxi stand said that the stand was established in the year 1979 by the then Minister, Mustafa Kamal and the stand has been paying rent to the Roads and Buildings Department since the same year. The District administration in Anantnag, he says, wanted us to vacate from the official space, “perhaps they want to extend the official set-up, but two hundred families will be affected if we are thrown away from this place” a driver said.
He also alleged that they (the drivers) were called to various offices and threatened to not speak against the move of the district administration. However, the drivers hit the streets on Sunday morning to protest the ‘inhumane move’ of the District administration in Anantnag. Holding placards ‘We want Justice’ and said that they have been provided with no location as an alternate as of yet.
The Drivers who work in this stand took to matter to the High Court of Jammu Kashmir in 2019 when the administration issued notices asking the drivers to vacate the place. The High Court in its order said that the drivers should be rehabilitated and provided an alternate location.
The drivers in their petition to The High Court of Jammu Kashmir at Srinagar CM No. 5994/2019 in WP(C) No. 2821/2019 CM No. 5594/2019 pleaded that the petitioners must be allowed to use and occupy the land falling under Survey Na 1104 situated at Khanabal Anantnag for the running of the Sumo Stand without any interruption.
In their petition, the drivers said that the administration should allow the petitioners ta run the Sumo Stand and provide Sumo service to the people through MIt Sumo Taxi Stand Dak Bangalow Khanabal, Anantnag without any hindrance. 111. Mandamus command* the respondents not to pressurize the petitioners’ Sumo Stand to surrender the land falling Survey No. 1104 situated Khanabal, Anantnag.
Here in this Sumo Stand, the vehicles ply mainly to Jammu and has been a service provider for Jammu cabs for decades, a market is also established around the Sumo Stand as people from all over district get service vehicles for Jammu here. The move to relocate the taxi stand has also troubled the shoppers around the place. “This is not merely a sumo stand now, it is an ecosystem, which has developed over decades, the ecosystem should not be disturbed,” a local shopper told The Kashmiriyat.
An official notice handed over earlier to the taxi stand cited law and order measures on the Amarnath route as the major reason for the taxi stand being relocated, and the new space provided is two hundred metres away from the current stand, however in the outskirts of the township. The DDC had also issued six lakh rupees for the development of the taxi stand.
The administration responded to the High court stating that the existence of the sumo stands at the present location is concern threat to security establishments by Militants and the location could be used by Anyi National elements to disrupt Yatra and create law and order disturbances, the relocation of the location is also supported by the communication of the SSP Anantnag via his communication number CS/13/2019/31222 dated 29.08.2019.”
The respondents also submitted that the relocation does not violate the rights of the drivers for running the Sumo Stand, as the alternate site has been already found and identified to the petitioners, which is only convenient to the commuters and also operators of the Sumos and other private vehicles.
However, the Driver claim that they have been provided with no official space as of yet and the space allotted is an outskirt, which will result in their customers going down by large numbers. “We do not understand why we are being forced to go away, such measures will force us to come down on the streets,” a protesting driver told The Kashmiriyat.
Another driver said that two hundred sumo drivers have been made workless. “On one side the Indian Government claims that they are providing employment to the people of Jammu Kashmir, while in reality, they are snatching away the jobs from us.” The drivers also said that they have not been provided any alternative space as of yet.
The Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag, Anshul Garg did not respond to our messages when The Kashmiriyat tried to message him.
Ghulam Hassan Sheikh, the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag upon being contacted by The Kashmiriyat said that there were apprehensions of the law and order situation, after which the admin closed down to the sumo stand. In 2019, the sumo drivers brought a stay order to the directions of the District administration asking for the relocation of the sumo stand, after which the district administration responded.”
In a Fresh order, the High court has to keep the interests of both the parties in view, asked the district administration to provide an alternative space to the drivers and the present spot be shifted. “An alternate space has been allocated to them, not more than 200 metres away from the spot,” the ADC of Anantnag administration said.