Gyalshing Nagar Panchayat to take action against sub-letting of trade licenses

KUSH HANG LEEWANG

GEYZING, : Following Urban Development minister Bhoj Raj Rai’s call for abolishing sub-letting of trade licenses, the Gyalshing Nagar Panchayat (GNP) is geared up to crack down on such licence owners and the traders running their business on sublet trade licences.

In a press conference held Friday at the GNP office, Municipal Executive Officer (MEO) Gopal Nepal and GNP president Devendra Sharma informed that, as per the direction of the higher authority, the GNP would conduct a physical verification of business establishments in Gyalshing and if the trade licences are found sublet then the GNP would cancel such licences with immediate effect.

The GNP stressed that real owners of the trade licences or immediate family members may utilize the trade licences for those business purposes that they are entitled to but subletting trade licences would lead to cancellation of their trade licences.

Furthermore, the Nagar Panchayat has refuted the allegation of issuing many trade licences illegally, as levelled against the GNP by Geyzing resident Sambhu Chettri.

Chettri through his personal Facebook post had accused the GNP of issuing many trade licences on the basis of voter cards instead of domicile documents as mandated by the government. He demanded a proper investigation and intervention of competent authority in the matter, calling the issue a direct violation of trade rules and encroachment to genuine Sikkimese interests.

Clarifying on the issue, the GNP maintained that only one trade licence was issued to an individual on the condition that he/she would submit his/her residential certificate within a month to the GNP authority. Once the concerned individual failed to submit the required documents as assured earlier, the licence was cancelled by the Nagar Panchayat immediately.

The GNP authority maintained that issuing trade licences on the basis of documents such as voter cards is totally false. The individual who was issued the trade licence was a mistake on the part of the GNP and the authority as rectification, cancelled the licence immediately.

The GNP further clarified that allegation of issuing many trade licences illegally by the Nagar Panchayat is totally false and carried no iota of evidence.

However, Sambhu Chettri dismissed such clarifications made by the GNP. If the GNP was not guilty of violating trade licence norms then the authority would not have issued the trade licence to an individual without verifying his or her documents, he said.

The lame excuse of the GNP is illogical and against the local interests, he said.