Srinagar, Dec 29: The shopkeepers at Hari Singh High Street are up in arms against the City police accusing the cops of badly damaging the business activities in the commercial hub by making the customers run away from there.
 Accusing the cops, particularly those from Police Station Shaheed Gunj of high handedness, the Hari Singh High Street Traders Association, in a statement said, the police force has brought the business activities to grinding halt.
 They said the cops were not allowing any customers to park vehicles in the area.
 “And who so ever accidentally parks it, all the tyres of his or her vehicle are punctured,” the association said.
 It said the customers now feel scared of coming to the marketplace.
 “Even an elderly man who comes out of his car to procure medicines isn’t spared as the cops immediately puncture all the tyres of the car making him go back either on foot or by autorickshaw,” the association said.
 It said the “misbehavior” of the police dates back to around a month back when there was some “controversy over footpath vendors in the area”.
 That time the locals are learnt to have approached a Cabinet Minister at the Winter Secretariat asking him to get the footpaths cleared of the encroachments.
 The Minister, as per the insiders, directed the DDC Srinagar and his police counter part to do the needful.
 The very next day, the footpaths were reportedly cleared.
 “But now even though the footpath vendors have resumed their work, no customers are allowed to park their vehicles… and this looks like a revenge with the shopkeepers,” said a shopkeeper.
 The HSHS association said they were not demanding any a parking facility for themselves but for the customers.
 “The customers need to bring their vehicles along so that the commodities they procure could be easily loaded for transportation. But as they are scared of bringing along the cabs, they simply avoid coming to this market,” the association said.
 Due to the prevailing circumstances, the traders said, the business activities in the heritage market, known since the Maharaj rule, have come to a standstill.
 The HSHS association has appealed the   Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and local MLA Nasir Sogami to “come to their rescue and save the market.”
 Despite repeated attempts, the SSP City, Syed Ashique Hussain Bukhari didn’t respond to phone calls.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 IST