Nilkhet shopkeepers being evicted

Owners of Bakusha Hawkers Market in Nilkhet has started evicting its tenants from Monday, allegedly without giving proper time to shift shops, leaving over 1,200 shopkeepers in huge trouble.

Abdul Alim, director of the market, told The Daily Star that there was 1.68 acres of land at the place, which they had given to a developer to construct a 15-storey market-cum-office building under a contract.

"We had given them around one year to shift their shops … but tenants did not leave their shops by this time," he said.

Abdul Latif, a tenant of a shop namely "Jui General Store", said he was running the shop for the last four years.

He alleged the owners' claim of giving the tenants a year was not true.