KHYBER: Legal issues, though apparently fraudulent in nature, have surfaced over the ownership of the recently auctioned fruit and vegetable market in Landi Kotal after some local residents forcibly occupied some shops, threatening other shopkeepers to desist from starting business in the new market, official sources say.

Officials of the tehsil municipal administration told Dawn that the plot on which the fruit and vegetable market in Landi Kotal bazaar was constructed some four years back was part of 42 kanals state property, as per the localrevenuerecord.

Requesting not to be named, they insisted that the TMA fulfilled all the legal requirements prior to the construction of 92 shops as part of the beautification project of Landi Kotal bazaar, which was approved by the then additional chief secretary, Shahab Ali Shah, with the recommendation and subsequent approval of the Khyber district administration in 2020.

They said the shops were constructed at a cost of Rs52 million with the TMA contesting and winning some `spurious` ownership claims by some shopkeepers, who had their kiosks and temporary small shops of the same plot prior to the approval of the beautification project.

They said the said plot was also being used as a parking area, declared by the then political administration before 2015 and was later converted into a temporary park.

`We conducted an auction of 92 shops after all the stakeholders agreed to declare the new facility as a fruit and vegetable market with an aim to discourage encroachment by vendors in other parts of Landi Kotal bazaar, they contended.

They said when the TMA started allocating shops to those who had won bidding for these, some residents from Karamkhel sub tribe of Shinwari started harassing these shopkeepers while also forcibly evicting some of them from their new shops.

Officials said the Karamkhel tribesmen laid a claim over the property over which the new market was constructed without presenting any genuine ownership documents at any legal forum. They said the illegal action of the local tribesmen had not only terrified the shopkeepers but was also depriving the TMA of one of its main sources of revenue collection.

Officials said that the TMA was already faced with shortage of funds and was finding it difficult to bear its monthly expenses and payment of salaries to its staff.

The fraudulent land ownership issue had further compounded its financial miseries, they added.

They said though they had approached their high-ups in Peshawar for dealing with these challenges, they had not yet received any favourable assistance from the officialquarters concerned.