SHILLONG: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Tuesday shut down several shops in the city belonging to non-tribals for not possessing trade license.
The action came after the HYC central body claimed to have detected around 200 shopkeepers in Iewduh, who did not possess trade license and labour license.
The HYC conducted checking of shops to ensure that the shopkeepers possess the mandatory trade license from Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC).
Some of the shopkeepers have not renewed their trade license, the general secretary of HYC, Roy Kupar Synrem, told The Shillong Times.
Synrem said the organisation will complain against such traders to the KHADC Executive Member- in charge of Trade and Enforce department.
The HYC urged the respective departments to conduct regular checking.
The Executive Member (EM) in- charge of Trade, Paul Lyngdoh, said the entire trade license system for non-tribals in the KHADC will be digitized shortly.
The statement from Lyngdoh came after HYC closed down many shops since they could not produce updated trade licenses.
He said the Council is enhancing the trade license fee structure for all cases of fresh licenses and those which need renewal.
According to Lyngdoh, it will take around two weeks for the Council to announce the new rates.
He added that once the cases of all fresh and renewal of trade licenses are addressed, instances of groups and NGOs barging into the shops will become a thing of the past.
“This phenomenon has been there for years simply because of the failure of the Council to address the issue adequately and the new Council is revising the fee structure in line with the latest market situation”, he said.
He said that once digitization takes place, the traders would come to the Council, fill up forms and within a short time frame, their licenses would be cleared or rejected based on merit.
Lyngdoh also said that as of now there are around 5000 non- tribals running shops and a substantial number of them do not come under licensing system and once the digitization takes place, “the question of any group barging into anybody’s shop would not arise”.
