‘Rajnath to write to defence ministry on lease renewal’

LUCKNOW : Union home minister Rajnath Singh has decided to write to the defence ministry to protect the interests of the shop keepers in Lucknow’s cantonment area who had approached him following a cantonment board notice, a BJP leader said.

Party leader Satbir Singh ‘Raju’, who led the delegation to meet the home minister, said the shopkeepers, whose 30-year lease expired a couple of years back, were seeking renewal of the lease, but the cantonment board was insisting on holding auction of the shops.

“The decision of the cantonment board would affect not only 24 shop owners and their families but those who work in these shops too. Altogether about 72 families would be affected because of the insensitivity of the cantonment board,” Raju said.

The Cantonment Board, Lucknow, is an autonomous body under the ministry of defence and discharges functions as per the provision of the Cantonment Act of 2006. The Lucknow cantonment is spread over 6810 acre, out of which a part belongs to the ‘bazaar’ or market area.

“It’s true that the occupancy rights of the land belong to the cantonment board but the shops are bought by the owners and hence they have always been getting it renewed. The board is now talking of auction, but then it’s an open auction which means anyone can make a bid for the shop that one bought. That’s arbitrary and we are definitely going to oppose it,” Raju said.

The home minister promised to write to the defence ministry to ensure that the interests of the shop keepers of Nehru Road were not harmed, Raju said.

Amit Kumar Mishra, CEO of Lucknow Cantonment Board, however, said the board wasn’t interested in displacing anyone.

“It’s true that we will hold an auction of these shops but that’s as per a proper policy. These shop keepers can reclaim these shops in the auction,” Mishra said. He refused to comment on the union home minister’s decision to write to the defence ministry on the issue. “That’s not for me to comment,” he said. Raju, however, said the home minister had agreed to write to the defence ministry to ensure that the owners’ lease agreement was renewed. The home minister had also directed his office to write to the chief postmaster general to upgrade the cantonment post office so that pressure on the GPO at Hazratganj was eased.