Shopkeeper’s video seeking assistance goes viral

A short selfie video narrating the plight of a small-scale trader who was forcefully evicted from his shop is going viral on social media.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A short selfie video narrating the plight of a small-scale trader who was forcefully evicted from his shop is going viral on social media. The video posted by Santhosh G S, a trader shows the landlord’s men evicting all the belongings and wares in his shop as the trader stood watching helplessly. Santhosh, who runs a fancy shop in Vithura, was seen airing his plight during the time of the pandemic on social media.

Santhosh could not open his shop which has been locked for months due to Covid. According to him, when he failed to pay the rent for four months, starting November, the landlord retaliated by confiscating the key of the shop from his family. 

“For over seven months the shop couldn’t be opened. With the lockdown, I haven’t been able to open the shop. The rent amounts to Rs 6,000. When I couldn’t pay the rent, the landlord came to my home and took away the key in February last. The deposit amount I paid was `1 lakh. Even after I requested the owner to let me open the shop and suggested that he take the rent that I owe him from my deposit amount, he didn’t relent,” says Santhosh.  

“Earlier when the landlord took away the key, I sought help from police to let me remove my goods from the shop. But the owner never opened the shop despite repeated requests. And then for the past one week, he has been taking away the goods from my shop and I wasn’t aware of it. Goods to the tune of `7 lakh have been taken away,” says Santhosh. 

Santhosh filed a complaint at the Vithura police station on Saturday. “The landlord said that the articles were shifted to a nearby shop for doing maintenance work. The owner said he hasn’t sold those articles. We will check the lease agreement and decide on the course of action to be followed,” said Vipin Gopinath, CI, Vithura police station. 

According to Y Vijayan, general secretary of the Thiruvananthapuram unit of Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (VVES), the tenant did approach the unit and a mediation talk was held months ago. “He said he wouldn’t be able to pay the rent and that he be allowed to open a food shack as his fancy shop business couldn’t be run due to Covid. And he said he would settle the matters himself and didn’t approach us later.” he said.

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