Traders of Residency Road market on Wednesday closed their establishments in protest of the ‘No Parking’ order of the district administration. Protesting the DC Jammu’s order, all the shopkeepers closed their shops and staged protest demonstration. They raised slogans against the local administration, accusing it of tormenting the shopkeepers by issuing such orders. A woman entrepreneur expressing anguish over the ‘No Parking’ order said, “We received a message from the district administration around midnight that no parking will be allowed along the road even for shopkeepers”. She said that this is completely unfair to issue such an order when the administration has failed to create any parking space in the nearby vicinity. The administration should allow at least parking for members of market which are at the most 50 in number, she asserted. “Ours is not a readymade garments market, it is a heavy duty goods market like carpets, furniture, etc. Many customers cannot afford load carriers and prefer to take purchased heavy material/goods to home in their own vehicles but when the parking will not be allowed in the market, they will avoid coming and shopping here,” she said and asserted that they will not obey this order, protest against it and will not open their shops till the order is revoked. Resenting the ‘No Parking’ order, another shopkeeper said that without parking space no market cannot grow and do business. “This order cannot be implemented. Instead of obeying this order, it is better for us to keep our shops closed and handover the keys of the shops to the administration as without parking there is no scope of any business activity,” he stated and demanded the district administration to revoke the order immediately Police officials from police post Residency Road tried to pacify the protesting shopkeepers but they refused to open the shops till the order is revoked.
