‘Dead men’ run municipal shops in Bihar’s Ara

PROBE Civic body issues receipt in the name of ‘dead tenants’ for rents from 49 shops

AMC WARD COUNCILLOR SAID THE SHOPS WERE ALLOTTED ON LEASE FOR PERIODS RANGING FROM 20 TO 99 YEARS. WHILE FIRST ALLOTMENT WAS MADE 50 YEARS AGO, THE LAST 10 YEARS AGO

The municipal corporation at Ara, headquarters of Bhojpur district in west Bihar, has detected at least 49 shops leased out by it were being run by people who are no more.

The Ara Municipal Corporation (AMC) has been receiving rents from the people managing these shops and issuing receipts in the name of ‘dead tenants’, including some who had passed away as long as 20 years ago.’

Ara municipal commissioner Pramod Kumar said he had constituted a five-member committee to probe into the matter. The committee was regularly updating him on the matter, Kumar said.

The municipal commissioner said legal heirs of persons who were earlier allotted shops would be given preference in reallotment if the documents presented by them were found genuine. In case nobody came forward with necessary documents, the shops would be leased out in accordance with norms, Kumar said.

AMC ward councillor Amit Kumar Bunty said the shops were allotted on lease for different periods ranging from 20 to 99 years. While the first allotment was made by the then Ara municipality about 50 years ago, the last was done 10 years ago, Bunty said.

The shops being run by ‘dead persons’ were located in different areas of the town, with the maximum 22 in Jagjiwan market, followed by 15 in Lalu market near Ara railway station and seven in Gudri market in the Ara town, 55km west of state capital Patna, he added.

Owner of one such shop near HPD Jain School, Sanjay Prasad, was gunned down on July 9, 2016.

Almost 18 months on, the lease of the shop is yet to be transferred to Prasad’s wife Kumari Anjana Srivastava.

“After coming to terms following my husband’s murder, we were busy with court proceedings. Now that the court has passed its verdict in my husband’s murder case, we will now move the municipal corporation to transfer the lease of the shop in my name,” she said.

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