LAHORE, Oct 21: The recently-introduced ‘people-friendly’ commercialization policy of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has upset thousands of small shopkeepers doing their business in various localities of the city.

The LDA has, under the policy, demanded payment of 20 per cent of the DC (deputy commissioner) rate of land as commercialization fee as well as a setback of 10-ft in front of the shop, etc. In case of rebuilding the structure, the setback must be 20-ft, it says.

It has also directed the traders doing their business in non-commercial areas to get a no-objection certificate (NoC) from their immediate neighbours for their business concern.

However, most of the mohallah shops are not more than 10-feet long so their owners or tenants may not afford provision of such a wide belt in front of their shops as the existing structure of their buildings does not allow them to do so. And if they decide to raze the structure to provide a setback of 10-ft, the policy demands that the setback should be doubled (20-ft), making the owners to rethink the venture.

Some tenants running shops in Johar Town and Township area told this reporter that their owners had served them with notices for vacation of their shops.

The owners, according to tenants, wanted to convert their shops into separate housing units by effecting minor changes in the existing structures.

They complained that the LDA had introduced the policy at a time when employment opportunities were scarce. “The winding up of small business like theirs will increase the number of jobless, hitting hard the national economy.”

They said that the removal of mohallah shops would also cause problems to housewives who would have to cover a long distance for procuring petty daily-use items.

Describing the new policy as discriminatory, they said people wanting to establish businesses along 29 city roads declared as commercial recently would not need NoCs from their neighbours, whereas investors in other areas were bound to seek the certificate (from their neighbours).

Apprehending long legal battle between the LDA and landlords, some shopkeepers have closed their business for good and started searching for jobs.

In some areas, owners are making changes in their buildings to provide the setback as required by the development agency.

The owner of a new departmental store in Shah Jamal said his investment would go down the drain after leaving 10-ft setback. “I have invested my life-saving of Rs 400,000 in the venture after being laid off from a private concern recently,” he told Dawn.

College Road Traders Association secretary-general Mian Naeem opposed the implementation of the LDA’s by-laws on Township which was developed by the housing and physical planning department way back in the 60s.

“Since we have purchased the plots from the housing department, we should be charged commercialization fee at the departmental rate of Rs5,000 per marla,” he argued.

Mian Naeem requested the LDA to impose fee only on that portion of a plot which was being utilized for commercial activities instead of charging for the whole plot.

He claimed that the association had moved the high court against the new policy.

M. Ashraf Bajwa, a property dealer running his business at his own plot located on the College Road, said the former PML government wanted to widen the road keeping in view the rising traffic flow on it. The government had demanded a 20-ft setback from them against free commercialization of their plots, he claimed.

He asked the city government to reconsider the proposal and drop the new LDA policy.