SHEIKHUPURA, April 29: Scores of traders running shops in Stadium Trust have protested against the `step motherly’ behavior of the local Excise and Taxation Department.

Talking to newsmen here on Sunday, they said the property tax imposed by the department was unjustified and contrary to the tax collecting schedule. They said that they had got the shops on 30 years lease.

The main cause of the formation of the trust, according to them, was the promotion of sport. The trust was registered in 1994 which built 118 shops around the stadium in 1996. They said that each shopkeeper deposited Rs 2,400 per annum with the trust account.

They said the shops had been constructed under the stairs of the stadium. “So we have no roof while the land is the property of the provincial government.”

They said a department team had tried to seal their shops on April 4 without any prior notice.