Srinagar: The Batamaloo traders who suffered loss in the 2014 deluge Wednesday staged protest against the government for ‘failing to compensate them’.
Scores of traders assembled on the main road in the area and chanted slogans like ‘we want justice’.
They demanded immediate compensation from the government.
The traders said that they suffered tremendous loss in the 2014 deluge and the government has left them on god’s mercy. “Despite passing more than two years, the government has miserably failed to compensate us thereby leaving the traders here to lurch at large,” the protesters said.
Fayaz Ahmad, one among the protesters said that the government has distributed cheques among the traders but unfortunately the cheques got bounced. “We went from pillar to post seeking compensation but unfortunately, all in vain. Around 3000 cheques distributed by the authorities are yet to be cashed,” he said.
“I lost everything in the deluge and since then my family is facing tremendous hardships,” Ahmad added.
He told KNS that the government must not ignore their plights and should compensate them at earliest as per announcement. “The promises made by the current regime over relief and rehabilitation of the flood affected people seem to be cruel joke as so far we didn’t receive a single penny from the government. We demand that the promises made by the government should be implemented on the ground so that we (traders) could feel a sigh of relief,” he demanded.
Meanwhile, the protesters later dispersed peacefully. (KNS)
