Shopkeepers Demand Knowledge

Commotion broke out during the visit by Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy to Gulzar Houz, where angry shopkeepers confronted her and her team, and demanded to know what was going on.

The shopkeepers, mostly consisting of jewellers who have been conducting their businesses on the popular stretch of road leading from Gulzar Houz to the historic Charminar, demanded to know why the road in front of their shops was dug up, and what the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project (CPP) was.

Claiming that neither the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) nor any other government department had bothered to inform them about the works to be taken up for the project, the shopkeepers, under the banner of 'Jewellers And Sarafa Association, Charkaman', pointed out that they had come to know from the pages of a leading Hindi daily that the road in front of their shops would be closed within 2 to 3 days.

The shopkeepers further pointed out that they were told to change their signboards according to the norms specified by the GHMC, but they were not informed about what these norms were.

Claiming that the road in front of their shops being dug up had lead to huge losses for them, the shopkeepers demanded that the GHMC gave them copies of the prestigious CPP.

They also said that they had tried to obtain the copies of the project plans through the Right To Information Act.

When the Mayor, along with Deputy Mayor Jaffer Hussain, GHMC Commissioner Sameer Sharma, and MIM MLAs Akbaruddin Owaisi, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, Ahmed Pasha Quadri and Ahmed Balala, did not provide an answer to the shopkeepers, they resorted to slogan-shouting.

As the slogan-shouting increased, Akbaruddin Owaisi asked Sameer Sharma to ensure that the road was closed on no account. He also asked the GHMC Commissioner to ensure that the works going on there be carried out by adjusting the timings, so that the commuters and shopkeepers are put to the least hardship possible.

Courtesy: INN