The All Itanagar Tata Mobile and Carriage Tempo Welfare Association (AITM&CTWA) has threatened to go on strike if the state government fails to address their ‘parking lot issue’ within a month.
AITM&CTWA president Deke Raju said former Itanagar Capital Region deputy commissioner Prince Dhawan had on August 25, 2015, notified 600 sq metres of land near the IG Park Tennis Court as a temporary parking lot for specific commercial vehicles.
“Dhawan inaugurated the temporary ‘Tata Mobile Stand’ on October 5, 2015, after the construction of pavement and toilets in presence of Itanagar Municipal Council chief municipal executive officer, district transport officer and other officials,” said Raju.
“However, land allotment against the same plot was later issued to one Rimo Gyadi on March 3, 2019,” he added while addressing a news conference at the Press Club here on Thursday.
Raju said following the allotment order Gyadi erected a commercial establishment and fenced the plot, thus obstructing the usage of the plot as a parking lot.
Terming the issuance of land allotment as “illegal”, Raju said that the deputy commissioner, extra assistant commissioner, land management and other officials are unaware of how a portion of the parking lot was allotted to Gyadi.
The then DC had relocated the Tata Mobile Stand from Panjabi Dhaba area of the city to the current location citing traffic congestion and four-lane highway construction. He had assured in the order itself that the commercial vehicle operators can use the plot till a high-power committee reviews the order, Raju said.
He further informed that according to the documents obtained through RTI, no high-power committee was constituted and no other plot has been designated as a parking lot for the commercial Tata Mobile vehicles.
The vehicle owners now have no place to park their vehicles and are penalised if they park them along the road, Raju added.
The president said that if the state government fails to address the issue either by revoking Gyadi’s land allotment and evicting the infrastructure or by designating a parking lot for them near the city, they will resort to a strike during which they will not allow any vehicular movement.
Rimo Gyadi could not be contacted for his comments.