Monday, May 26, 2014

GMC councilors blame SKM for Lall Bazaar fracas

GANGTOK, 25 May: Three Gangtok Municipal Corporation councilors have accused Sikkim Krantikari Morcha workers of staging the protest today to prevent vegetable sellers from the villages from selling their produce at Lall Bazaar. Today was the weekly haat at Lall Bazaar and although the vegetable stalls opened eventually, a better part of the day was lost to the bandh.
In a joint press statement, the three councilors- Udai Lama, Bhaskar Basnet and Sandhya Rani Prasad, have alleged that SKM workers wanted to avenge their loss in the rural areas in the recent elections by denying the villagers business at Lall Bazaar through the unrest created today.
The release contends that many hawkers at the Lall Bazaar complex have been encroaching space and thereby denying adequate space to the weekly vegetable sellers from the villagers when they come here on Sundays.
The councilors were “only informing” hawkers about the rules regarding the need for them to operate their businesses from the allotted space when the situation was hijacked into other directions and people misinformed, the release contends.
The councilors were telling villagers not to allow others to occupy their space and hawkers from outside to vacate the space meant for villagers, it adds.
“We have been trying to create an appropriate environment for local farmers to get the right price for their vegetables, fruits, poultry and other produce that they bring from far flung areas to sell in the bazaar,” the release states.
The trio has alleged that an SKM worker, Lakpa Sherpa along with others raised objections to this initiative of theirs to create unrest in the bazaar. They further allege that SKM won the 10 assembly seats with the help of people from outside the state and now want to pay them back by indulging in such anti-Sikkimese acts.
They have demanded that SKM compensate for the loss to local farmers who could not sell their produce at the haat today. They have also demanded that the administration take immediate action against SKM for creating unrest in the market place.

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