WAZIRABAD -Scares of tenants staged a protest against re-auction of shops they have been in possession of, by the TMA here the other day.
The protestors blocked GT Road and later gathered in front of the Assistant Commissioner office, raise slogans against the decision of re-auction.
In the Tehsil, total 211 shops included 86 shops under Overhead Bridge, 25 on Railway Road, 41 in Iqbal Market (Plastic Market), 25 near Veterinary Hospital, 11 in Lahori Gate, 13 in Alipur Chattha, 3 in main bazaar Rasool Nagar and 17 shops exists on miscellaneous locations have been given at nominal rents.
Now, on the direction of the Punjab government, the TMA has decided to re-auction contracts for renting out these shops to generate more revenue.
The tenants said that the TMA wanted to increase rent but there were a number of complications as most of the shops were under the occupation of different tenants for the last 30 years. They claimed that the TMA was not owner of the shops hence no right to re-auction contracts. “We were gifted the piece of land by Shaukat Manzoor Cheema, then Nazim and now MPA.
The shopkeepers of overhead bridge claimed that during first tenure of Nazims, they had constructed the shops themselves and paying property tax regularly.
When contacted, Assistant Commissioner Rao Sohail Akhtar, said that the DCO had directed the TMAs to prepare working papers within a week to reassess the market value of the government property.
He said that the shops had been rented out for Rs3,000 per month against the current market rate of Rs10,000.
He said that the government had changed the system of lease agreements and under the new policy it would be valid for three to five years which was earlier 30 years.  On the other hand, some tenants moved their case to High and lower courts for relief, seeking stay order against the TMA decision.
On the petition of a tenant Khawaja Muhammad Yousuf, Civil Judge Qaisar Shehzad maintained status quo till April 28 for his shop and summoned both the parties on the next hearing.