Srinagar, Oct 3: The police Monday again stopped the construction of stalls for squatters at General Bus Stand Batamaloo after the work was resumed by Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) on the intervention of Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani and SSP Srinagar.
 The police allegedly detained the contractor and the labourers at the construction site after the refused to stop the work.
 Meanwhile, the squatters who are to be allotted these stalls by SDA have sought the intervention of the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand in the matter. “We have made an advance payment of around Rs 2 crore to SDA for these stalls and are anxiously waiting for allotment to earn our livelihood,” the affected vendors told Greater Kashmir. They threatened to come out on roads if the stalls are not completed and allotted to them in time for their rehabilitation.
 SDA had started construction of stalls at this prime piece of land at GBS Batamaloo on Saturday. However, the police got the work halted and detained the contractor saying the land belongs to it. This tussle is feared to affect the future prospects of scores of roadside vendors who were scheduled to get rehabilitated there.
 Officials at SDA said the land measuring around two kanals, was scheduled to be used for “rehabilitation of street vendors in the area who have paid advance money for the upcoming complex.”
 “These poor people have already paid around Rs two crore for their rehabilitation and so they want the building to get ready at the earliest. But the police move has hindered the prospects,” said an SDA official.
 He said some two years ago police had procured four kanals of land adjacent to the site from SDA. “Now it (police) wants a way to their land through the SDA land even though the police land has a full-fledged access of its own,” said a SDA official requesting not to be named.
 He said such a move by the police would be “injustice with the poor people who are scheduled to be rehabilitated.”
 According to SDA officials, the police has allegedly usurped two more prime land plots of the SDA in Batamaloo which the authority had got vacated from CRPF and other illegal occupants.
 A senior police official had said the matter would be sorted out amicably. “It’s not any big issue or any controversy we will sort it out amicably,” the official had told Greater Kashmir.
 Meanwhile, SDA authorities today took up the matter with Director General Police and IGP Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 3 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 3 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 4 Oct 2011 00:00:00 IST