Naga Shopping Arcade tenants decry rent hike

Our Reporter

Dimapur, Dec. 18 (EMN): Tenants’ Association of Naga Shopping Arcade (Tansa) on Wednesday expressed their grievance over a 90% increase in housing rent from March 2019, ‘without any maintenance work, repairing, white washing and proper infrastructure’ by the Development Authority of Nagaland (DAN).

Tansa members said that they had even filed an appeal at the High Court against the surge in rent, and it has issued a stay order. This was contained in a statement issued during a meeting with the media fraternity in Dimapur on December 18.

During the meeting, a Tansa official said that they have sent several representations to the authorities concerned regarding the problem faced by the tenants but to no avail, till date.

One of many issues faced by the tenants was the lack of public toilets, excepting a privately managed pay-and-use facility. The official stated that each block of the arcade used to have public toilets but ‘it has been rented and turned into residential property’.

He added that the area hosts many events especially during the festive season, but due to lack of public toilets, it becomes an ‘open defecation zone’. As a result, it affects the tenants as well as the shop owners. The official also informed that after the events gets over, those concerned do not clear the mess.

The Tansa members, during the meeting, also said that there are many discrepancies in the electricity bill. They further stated that even though they pay 15% service tax, the maintenance work carried out by the authorities is not visible.

They also informed that there is no security guards for the whole area, making it vulnerable to theft.

The Tansa members were also concerned about the ‘time limit for the night carnival, as gambling continues till morning and it encourages immoral activities’.

They appealed to DAN to be sensitive, ‘as it is not only for the tenants concerned but also for all the citizens of Nagaland’.