House, shopping complex owners in Nagaland’s Mokokchung requested to waive rent

Dimapur, June 9 (EMN): In view of the untold hardships faced by the business community in Mokokchung district due to closure of shops for months to contain the Covid-19 transmission, the Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem (MTLT) has appealed to the Mokokchung Municipal Council (MMC) and house owners to waive rents to mitigate the sufferings of struggling entrepreneurs on humanitarian ground. 

In a press release issued on Monday, MTLT stated that “among the different sections of the society, the hardest hit group of people is the business community, especially the local shop owners, who cannot open their shops due to this lockdown”.

“Mokokchung town is comparatively small as compared to others and most of the shop owners are local youths who took to business as a means of sustaining their livelihood. Most of the business enterprises are in a nascent stage with small investment and this lockdown is making the business communities to incur huge losses which will take time to recover,” the press release read.

The organisation appreciated many house owners who have waived the house rents of their tenants for some months on humanitarian grounds, saying that such Good Samaritan gesture would surely assuage the financial and mental problems faced by the tenants.

“However, there are still many business owners, especially those owning shops in the Mokokchung Municipal Council (MMC) Shopping Complex, who are in great dilemma as to how to pay their shop rents after months of closure. There are also many small time shop owners in and around the town who are facing the same problem of trying to make ends meet,” the press release stated.

“The MTLT would like to sincerely appeal the Mokokchung Municipal Council to kindly waive the house rents of those shop owners in the MMC shopping complex so that the financial burden of the shop owners can be alleviated to some extent. Likewise, the MTLT would also like to appeal to the house owners if they could also at least consider the house rents of their tenants for a few months – if they have not already waived or considered it already – so that the tenants can also breathe a sigh of relief,” it added.

While acknowledging that the global pandemic has affected every section of the society, the MTLT expressed appreciation to all the frontline workers, district administration, NGOs and individuals who have been working tirelessly to mitigate the sufferings of the people during the crisis.

It stated that “in times like this, when a human tragedy is looming around us, the best of every individual should come out so that humanity would triumph even in the midst of darkness”. “It is overwhelming to witness every citizen coming out to work for the greater good of the people irrespective of tribe, community or religion in the town. The MTLT feels that no good deeds go unrewarded and thus a little understanding towards the tenants of houses by the landlords and the Mokokchung Municipal Council surely would be much appreciated by the people and would be pleasing even in the eyes of our Lord,” it went on to state.