I have got RTGS of Rs 10 lakh in my account. With this amount I cannot even get my mall cleaned, leave alone rebuilding the entire thing. All my hard work of so many years has been reduced to rubble," Suresh Sharma, the owner of Rohtak's burnt down RN Mall, rued.
Sharma, like scores of others whose shops, business establishments and institutions were looted and completely burnt down in the mindless arson by Jat protesters in last month's violent agitation for reservation, says that non-Jat community businessmen are uncertain whether they want to re-build their establishments in Haryana or move out to other places.
Rohtak's only McDonald's outlet, which Sharma brought here almost 18 months ago after a lot of effort, has been charred along with the multiplex cinema halls, high-end gyms and other showrooms in the RN Mall. The mall's staff, numbering over 100, stare at a jobless future.
"I don't understand how the Khattar Government is going ahead with the 'Happening Haryana' investors' summit when the existing ones have suffered losses of hundreds of crores. Who will invest in a state where such lawlessness prevailsIJ" he said. The protesters even set on fire the RN Engineering College, owned by Sharma and his family, at Makroli Kalan near here. "They took away all computers and other equipment and burnt down the building. The loss at the college is around Rs 4 crore," Sharma said.
The arsonists specifically targeted establishments owned by people from non-Jat communities like Punjabis, Sainis, Brahmins and others, local traders point out.
The BJP government in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar, having failed to contain the violence, is trying to give an impression that it will compensate all losses suffered by people. Much of this is being done ahead of the March 7-8 'Happening Haryana Global Investors' Summit' being held in Gurgaon.