BBMP stall keepers told to pay dues, renew licences

The members of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Standing Committee on Markets, including its president B R Nanjundappa, went on a surprise inspection of stalls in Palike markets on Wednesday.

These stalls have been functioning for several years, without paying rent or renewing their licences.

There are 76 stalls at the Halasuru market which falls under the BBMP east zone. Despite being repeated warnings, the trader at stall number 19 had failed to renew the licence.

The officials immediately swung into action, locked and seized the stall. In stall number 10, the stall keeper had sub-let the stall to another person. The officials locked and seized this stall too.

A few stall keepers sought a week’s time to complete the required procedures. The president of the standing committee warned the shopkeepers that all their stalls would be seized and locked if they failed to get their licences renewed.

No rent for 3 years
The committee members visited Russel market which houses 480 stalls. Several traders here too, had not paid rent for the past three years.

The shopkeepers owe BBMP about Rs 35 lakh. The Russel Market Shopkeepers’ Association president assured the officials to pay the dues by Thursday.

The standing committee members also visited the stalls housing the scrap dealers, located opposite Russel Market.

The Palike is yet to receive 80 applications for renewal of licences from them. However, the scrap dealers stated that they did not possess the old documents and requested the officials to renew their licences, based on the existing documents.

They assured the officials that they would get the necessary task done within two weeks’ time.