Srinagar (KNO) : Even after three years since the devastating 2014 deluge caused unprecedented financial and structural loss, many traders of Batamaloo’s Firdous Abad are yet to receive the compensation.
The shopkeepers expressed anger towards the government and said that the denial of timely compensation have exacerbated their financial problems.
“The officials have handed over the cheques to us but there is no money in the account. We have suffered a lot and demand timely intervention from the officials concerned to save us from going broke,” said Muhammad Amin Bhat whose provisional store shop at lane 5 of the locality was completely ruined by the deluge.
He alleges that some “persons of the locality who even didn’t own a shop were given the compensation while the genuine ones were left out.”
Another shopkeeper cried foul while alleging that there was “disproportionate distribution of flood compensation” in the locality.
“When we accessed the list, we were shocked to find out that many students of the locality, who were in the good books of officials, were shown as shopkeepers and received the compensation hands down,” said the shopkeeper, who is yet to receive the compensation for his shop.
The shopkeepers further said that they are made to move from pillar to post with no official listening to their pleas.(KNO)