‘The registrations of 91 shops were cancelled after consulting the local administration and their owners were asked to leave the area. Many of them have been luring our daughters’
By Piyush Srivastava
The local traders’ association has cancelled the registrations of 91 shops in Uttarakhand’s Dharchula after a minority community youth who used to work at a barber shop eloped with two girls to his home state of Uttar Pradesh.
Mahesh Gabrayal, general secretary of the Dharchula Vyapar Mandal, said: “The registrations of 91 shops were cancelled after consulting the local administration and their owners were asked to leave the area. Many of them have been luring our daughters.
“A barber from Bareilly enticed two minor girls and took them away last month. Thereafter, we identified 91 shopkeepers who were doing business here illegally. They didn’t register with the Vyapar Mandal, which is mandatory in Uttarakhand.”
He said the 91 shopkeepers — all of them from western Uttar Pradesh and belonging to the minority community — were told to leave the area immediately because agitated residents were organising marches against the “illegal shops” every day.
Gabrayal said the association had also decided to cancel the registration of all the traders who came here from other states before 2000.
“A total of 175 businessmen from the town have been identified so far. They all belong to western Uttar Pradesh. Local youths will be able to start businesses and earn a livelihood if we remove the outsiders from here,” he said.
This story was originally published in telegraphindia.com. Read the full story here.