Over one dozer shops were sealed by the officials in the Hyderpora area of the Srinagar district on Tuesday evening.
Locals told The Kashmiriyat that the Custodian Department of Jammu Kashmir sealed at least 15 shops in the IQ Mall at Srinagar’s Hyderpora.
They said that the officials of the said department have taken custody of the shops.
Custodian Department of Jammu Kashmir, however, said that the shopkeepers have taken possession of the shops decades back and have not paid any rent to the department. “They have occupied the shops and despite several notices, these shopkeepers have failed to reach to the department,” they said.
They said that on Tuesday, the custodian department sealed the shops after having served several notices to the shopkeepers, who failed to respond.
Pertinently, the Custodian Department of Jammu Kashmir, in a communique last week, had said, “Persons whose land has been illegally encroached should approach the department and with due course, the department will take action to retrieve their land.”
“As per the procedure, if a structure is being raised anywhere illegally on the custodian land, we demolish it, but if a structure is already raised years ago, then we have a provision for that and we will have to notify it following which the rent is being fixed,” the press release read.