Hyderabad, December 07: Less than two kilometres away from the Osmania University campus, the Tarnaka `Sunday bazar’ was buzzing with activity, the 48-hour bandh call by TRS notwithstanding.
Despite its proximity to the university, where all the trouble began a week ago, shopkeepers here kept their shutters up all through the day even as farmers from the suburbs put up their fruit and vegetable stalls along the footpath, just like every Sunday.
Grocery stores, medical shops, food and sweet joints and even telephone booths in that area, were seen operating like any other working day with dozens of customers crowding before their outlets. Considering that other markets in the city were closed in view of the bandh, even those who otherwise prefer shopping at supermarkets were seen queuing up in front of their next-door `kirana’ stores. Though shopowners were initially skeptical about pulling up their shutters on Sunday, support from local resident welfare associations (RWAs) helped them go about their business.
To ensure that no trouble broke out in their locality, members of these RWAs stood by the shops as a show of solidarity and even assured them of help in case there was any problem.
“We received a few calls in the morning asking if it would be safe to open shop today. We asked everybody to go ahead without any fear,” said V B J Chelikani, a resident of the area and president, United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations, adding, “This is their bread and butter, why should that be jeopardised because of some political crisis.”
The Gokulnagar resident welfare association, that maintains the Sunday bazar, with help from local police, were seen patrolling the market area till late afternoon, as news of TRS workers making the rounds of the main road (only 500 metres away) kept coming in. Assured of protection, shopkeepers there said that they “felt safe about keeping their stores open on a bandh day”. “I do not think we need to worry at all. There can be no trouble, as we have an association backing us,” said Ram Babu, owner of a medical store in the area.
Apart from Tarnaka, some shops in the Yousufguda area, close to Maitrivanam which witnessed mob violence, also pulled up their shutters late Sunday afternoon, though they restricted their business to only a few hours fearing trouble. “Some people came in the morning and asked traders to keep their shops shut.
But we still opened store around 1 pm though we intend to close it by 4 or 5 pm,” said Tulsiram Reddy who runs a sweet shop there. Even the few vendors on the street seemed to be in a hurry to sell their ware and head home as early as possible. “Our business will suffer for two days, so we are trying to sell at least some of our stock today. However, we do not wish to stay on for long as trouble may erupt any moment,” said K Ramu, a fruit-seller.
-Agencies