Second one: Traders observe shutter down strike

HARIPUR:

Shopkeepers in Haripur observed a shutter down strike on Thursday over the additional assistant commissioner’s hostile attitude towards traders. The strike was called by All Traders Association.

A large number of traders marched from Sheranwala Gate to Main Chowk.



“Most of the traders have removed their extended sheds from outside the shops voluntarily but the officer did not spare them and kept on imposing heavy fines,” said a trader during the protest led by All Traders Association President Raja Hafeez.

Agitated

The traders also accused the AAC of thrashing a vendor and being harsh towards pushcart owners and shopkeepers.

They also criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government for appointing an officer in the district who was bent on inflicting financial loss to the traders who have a sizable contribution to the provincial and national exchequers in the form of taxes.

The protesting traders kept GT Road blocked for over an hour and also burnt tyres. It was the second protest against the AAC who was assigned the duty of clearing encroachments by the Haripur DC. However, the protesters later dispersed peacefully when a five-member committee of traders decided to take up the matter with the DC.

When contacted, the AAC confirmed that he had imposed the fine.

Irshad said he had found several shopkeepers and pushcart owners causing disruption in traffic. He said that under the law he was either bound to put them behind bars or fine them. However, he did the latter and imposed a penalty of Rs70,000 collectively on over 50 traders.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th,  2015.