Flood-hit traders give Mar 31 ultimatum to Govt

Addressing a press conference here today, President KTMF Muhammad Yasin Khan said: “We cannot wait for compensation till eternity. The state government should announce a time-bound relief package for the traders or else we shall be compelled to go for indefinite agitation.”
Khan said the government should devise a transparent and comprehensive policy envisaging phase-wise accomplishment of the goal (giving relief/compensation to the traders). “The government should immediately release the draft of such policy so that the traders get some respite,” he said.
“For last seven months, the traders have been facing official apathy. We cannot wait and watch our hapless brothers starving due to negligence of the government,” he said, adding that if “our demands are not addressed by March 31, we will be left with no option but to frame agitation program.”
“On March 8 when the Cabinet Sub Committee met us at SKICC where we submitted a 2-page memorandum to it, we were assured that the demands of the traders would be met within a month, but the next morning we came to know through media that the government will do the job in 45 days. This suggested that they were non-serious,” Khan said.
Clarifying that KTMF doesn’t want to gain any political mileage out of rehabilitation issue, Khan said this was a humanitarian issue pending for six months.
Reading the copy of memorandum submitted to the CSC on March 8, Khan said most of the demands like fee and tax waiver were within the competence of the state government.
About the demand of at least Rs 10 lakh to each affected shopkeeper, Khan said it was a demand for compensation not for relief. It is the government which failed to inform the people about the floods so the devastation was inevitable and now it is the responsibility of the government to compensate.”
“Our memorandum is no secret document but an open book and we expect the government to reciprocate accordingly without any delay,” Khan said.