Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s busiest market wore a deserted look on Friday as Sultan Bazaar traders shut establishments protesting against the metro alignment. Police imposed Section 144 and arrested a few as a preventive measure.
‘KCR keep your promises — Save Sultan Bazaar, CM down, down’ — posters covered the entire area. “We won’t allow any metro pillar to come up, if the government does not stand by its word, traders will commit suicide,” said the agitators.
Every single trader at the Sultan Bazaar market downed shutters angry with the government for going by the original alignment of Hyderabad Metro Rail.
The metro rail is likely to affect 300 shops. Traders said hundreds of people, including hawkers, will lose their livelihood if the alignment is not changed. Sultan Bazaar general secretary C.
Madhusudhan Rao said, “We are making a desperate bid to meet the CM but not getting an appointment for two weeks. We want to remind the CM about his earlier statement that metro rail has to first pass over his body before it passes through Sultan Bazaar.”
Before coming to power in the newly created state, the CM had strongly opposed metro rail plans in Sultan Bazaar and also in front of the state assembly building.
Another trader Santhosh Yadhav added, “After assuming office, the CM had announced that the alignments will be changed to save heritage structures, places of worship and a large number of properties. Traders were shocked to find Metro officials marking roads to take up construction works at midnight every day. Over 16 months have passed since then but no one knows what happened. He permitted Metro to go as per earlier plan in Sultan Bazaar that too in a ‘very secretive’ manner.”
Work in front of the Assembly was stopped last year while no work was taken up in Sultan Bazaar and the old city.
The government had asked L&T to change the alignment and work out alternate routes. However, following a detailed study, alternate routes were not found feasible.
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