The shopkeepers in Dagana said they will not move until they are allotted a new plot. Over 40 shop owners of old Dagana town are yet to get the replacement land. About 30 of them have been allocated new plots.
They have been notified that all the shops in old Dagana town will be dismantled by August next year and that they should move out before that.
In 2002, Dagana District Administration allocated a plot each in the new Dagana town area to 30 shopkeepers holding business license since 1980s. Of over 70 shopkeepers in old Dagana town, 42 of them don’t own any plot. 50 year old Kharka Bahadur Biswa is one of them. He has been running a small shop on rent in Dagana since 1983. By August next year his shop will be demolished. “I have nowhere else to go,” he said.
According to the Dzongkhag Municipal Authority’s Engineer, Mani Kumar, along with 30 other business people, Kharka Badhur Biswa was allotted a plot. “He requested to our office saying he does not want the plot,” said the engineer.
Kharka Bahadur Biswa says he never wrote nor signed any letter which says he did not want a plot. He said he even visited the office to verify if such letter existed. “Even after hours of search I couldn’t find it,” he said.
The Dagana municipal office says the shopkeepers who were not allocated plots during the first phase in 2002, should find an alternative solution before August next year.
