Markets across the capital were closed on Monday as traders downed shutters beginning their three-day bandh against the sealing of shops in residential areas.
NEW DELHI: Markets across the capital were closed on Monday as traders downed shutters beginning their three-day bandh to protest the sealing of shops in residential areas, amid tight security.
However, normal life remain unaffected in the city as educational institutions, public transport and essential services were exempted from the bandh, supported by all the major political parties.
All the major markets including Connaught Place, Lajpat Nagar, Paharganj, Karol Bagh, Greater Kailash, Chandni Chowk, South Extension, Mayur Vihar, Khan Market and Kamala Market remained closed, traders claimed.
Traders also laid seige to the Delhi Assembly on the first day of its Winter Session on Monday. Chemists have also joined the strike against sealing of shops operating in residential areas.
The protestors assembled at the Vidhan Sabha on the first day of its Winter Session, rushed towards the barricades put up outside the Assembly shouting anti-government slogans and attempted to break the security cordon, following which police used water cannons.
Some of the protestors pelted stones at the policemen, but the situation remained under control.
The traders and BJP activists assembled outside the Assembly attempting to gherao the building as the three-day trade bandh against the court-ordered sealing drive went underway.
Meanwhile, several trade representatives, including Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), courted arrest outside the Vidhan Sabha
Police has made elaborate security arrangements to patrol the nook and corner of the capital to check violence during the three-day bandh as was witnessed on September 20 during a similar protest by traders.
With the Seelampur violence still fresh in mind, police has deployed additional police and paramilitary personnel in the city to maintain law and order and appealed to people to resist from damaging public property.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation suspended services between Delhi University and Kashmere Gate this morning in view of demonstrations by traders and BJP workers in the area as part of the bandh.
"We have suspended operations in the stretch from 9 a.m. till further orders on the advise of the Delhi Police," a DMRC spokesperson said.
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