TOBA TEK SINGH, Oct 7: At least 32 shopkeepers who were relocated last year during a drive against encroachments at the general bus stand face uncertain future.

Their old shops were demolished on the order of a former assistant commissioner.

Owners who termed the ex-AC’s order illegal were accommodated and given space in and outside the general bus stand to raise new shops, but without a legal cover from the local municipality.

The shopkeepers are now worried about the future of their shops and business. They do not know whether their shops are on rent or on lease or they are the owners.

They told this correspondent that whenever they visited former municipal committee officials, they were informed that the MC had no direction to collect rent from them, while they also refused to issue proprietary rights to them.

Similarly, officials of the new tehsil municipal council also refused any cooperation in this regard.

The former AC also had a petrol pump demolished from the general bus stand in his campaign against encroachments. So far, no land could be allotted to the petrol pump owner.

The AC also constructed a beautiful park on the Railway land without seeking any approval from the authorities concerned. Now a dispute between the Railways and the Punjab Revenue department has surfaced on the ownership of the park.

The Teku park, visited by hundreds of people everyday, also houses a hotel and several shops whose owners pay rent to the MC.