Hyderabad, May 16:With the city on heightened state of alert following intelligence inputs of a possible terror attack, business establishments have been reporting losses from across the city.
With customers wary of venturing out in busy market places and police undertaking frisking of vehicles and people at various intersections, traders at the Jagdeesh Market at Abids complain of heavy losses.
Traders at the Jagdeesh Market, reputed to be one of the biggest market of mobile phones in the country, complain that their business is down by 75 per cent on certain days and a minimum of 50 per cent every day.
The city police has not only tightened the security measures but also imposed traffic restrictions on roads leading to the market.
The market not only thrives on sale and purchase of old and new handsets of reputed brands but also caters to low-end customers who seek mobile phones at the cheapest possible rates.
It is these customers who make up the majority of buyers. They not only buy mobile handsets imported from China which are a fraction of the cost of well known brands but they also opt for second-hand phones.
The restrictions imposed by the government on handsets without the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers had first brought down the business since the Chinese phones invariably were without this number.
Now with the traffic restrictions and the heightened security measures, customers are opting to buy their mobile phones from other areas.
According to the owner of the big shops ‘Fone Mart’, Mohammed bin Sultan, “I have been running this business for last fifteen years here. The trading is nowadays so thin that on many days, except for recharge cards, very few new handsets are being sold because of so few customers turning up.”
Mr Sultan adds that the business had plummeted by more than fifty per cent ever since parking restrictions were put into effect by the city police.
His complaint, that parking restrictions around the market are driving away customers is echoed by other traders too.
Traffic police have placed barricades on the roads leading to Jagdeesh Market and they wave away the customers who eye a parking spot. And if someone is brazen enough to park their vehicle when the traffic policeman is not looking, a towing van is on hand to drag it away. The customer has to shell out a hefty fine to get back his vehicle.
The parking for all vehicles was earlier easy with a designated person collecting parking charges and the customers able to stop their vehicles at any place in the area. Now that the police are not allowing the vehicles close to the market place, the customers have to make round after round of the areas nearby in search of a parking place.
Finding a parking spot, especially under the heavy traffic rush in the busy area, is almost impossible to find at certain hours.