Day 2: Traders to intensify stir

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New Delhi: The traders' strike in Delhi entered its second day on Tuesday.

Chemists opened their shops on Tuesday and schools, too, reopened, but the traders planed to continue their agitation.

Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders, said, "As per our plan, the bandh will be called off only on Wednesday night. But we will continue our agitation in other forms like indefinite dharna, hunger strike and conferences against the sealing drive."

"There is no question of feeling satisfied with the way the government is handling the issue because this is a question of livelihood for lakhs of people across the city," he added.

On Day 2, traders have planned dharnas and rallies all across the city.

Major protests are scheduled to take place in Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal and Kotla Mubarakpur in South Delhi.

There will also be a car rally in the area. But the biggest car rally is planned in West Delhi from Jail road through Uttam Nagar, Hari Nagar and other nearby locations like Karawal Nagar and Karkardooma Chowk in East Delhi.

There will also be protests at Ajmal Khan Road in Central Delhi.

On Monday night, traders refused to call off the strike until and unless the government gave them a written assurance that MCD's sealing drive would not be resumed on November 1.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court's Monitoring Committee has told the court that sealing should not restart from November 1, keeping in mind the law-and-order situation in the capital.

For the time being, sealing could be posponed on Supreme Court's orders till January 31, 2007.

The committee has also recommended that commercial setups protected by previous MCD notifications should not be sealed.

This would spare at least 25,000 of the 44,000 shops immediately facing the axe.

However, despite this, traders have decided to intensify their protest across the city.

Enforcing strike through SMSes

The 72-hour-long bandh is already hurting small shop owners in the residential areas of the capital.

Although they looked keen to open their shops, but the trade associations have taken resort to neighbourhood patrols on motorbikes and used SMSes to ensure that the shops remain closed.

The first day of the bandh, which was marked by violent protest near the Delhi Assembly, also witnessed small shopkeepers located in residential areas opening their shops in the evening.

However, some smaller committees made by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in every locality enforced a complete bandh.

Each local committee consisting of 35 to 50 members 'patrolled' the neighbourhood on motorcycles and ensured that every shop remained closed even in the evening.

These committees made contacts with each other through SMSes to inform them about the shops that were open.

Dilip Ahuja, one of the members of such monitoring group, said, "Messages through cellphones have helped us in quickly moving to that part of the area where we get information that shops have been reopened."

On being asked whether they force them to bring down the shutter, Ahuja said, "We know that their livelihood is dependent on their shops and a three-day bandh would affect them. But there is no other way out. Neither the Supreme Court nor the Delhi Government is paying heed to our problems."

The small shopkeepers, selling daily-life stuff, accepted that they were the worst-hit by the bandh.

Ashok Miglani (name changed), who owns a small grocery shop in Mansarowar Garden Colony, said, "The three-day strike would affect us badly. We tried to open the shop, which is actually a part of my house, but in vain. I had to close it within five minutes".

However, these shopkeepers have now found a unique way to help their regular customers and also themselves.

"We have contacted our regular customers through phone and have told them that we would home-deliver them their daily needs," Miglani said, adding: "This will also help us to earn little".

Day 1: Cops, traders clash

On Monday, protests turned ugly when police lathicharged on a contingent of traders agitating outside the Delhi Assembly.

The contingent shouting anti-government slogans was apprehended outside Vidhan Sabha, where the first day of its Winter Session was being convened.

Traders assembled in large numbers outside the Vidhan Sabha and blocked traffic on the main road and those leading to the Assembly building.

They broke the police cordon twice and surged towards the Assembly. When the protests did not die down, police fired water cannons and those who tried to break the cordon were detained.

The traders also burnt effigies of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The strike organisers, who enjoy the backing of Delhi's ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), want all shops in residential areas set up until December 31, 2005 to be legalised and allowed to function as before.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to the public, but we cannot help it," said Praveen Khandelwal.

"Regularise all shops in residential areas established till December 31, 2005. This is our only demand," he said.

To worsen the situation, a large number of chemists also joined the protest on Monday.

SEALING STORY
	On February 16, 2006, the Supreme Court ordered MCD to seal all commercial properties in residential areas.
	Seven months later, on September 15, 2006, the Delhi government notified 2,183 stretches across the city as commercial areas. However, the Supreme Court rejected this notification.
	Finally, October 30, 2006, Delhi traders began a 72-hour bandh. Their basic demand is to defer sealings till January 31, 2007.
	Traders say that property exempted from sealing by earlier MCD notifications, should be left out of the drive.