HYDERABAD: In many parts of the city, the bandh on Friday was on display only on the main roads while most of the shops inside colonies functioned without a hitch.Roads were busy with traffic in the morning until around 11 am as many organisations went ahead with their routine despite the call for bandh.Towards the afternoon, however, the traffic was thin and the usually crowded Punjagutta, Hitech city, Begumpet roads looked deserted.The IT industry and colleges, which had decided to take a call in the morning, functioned as usual.Some petrol pumps which were open early in the morning closed after 10 am.Around 4.30 pm, many of the shops opened for business while others who were less confident raised half shutters.Malls such as the City Centre, GVK and Hyderabad Central were closed for the day. Bandh toned down the bustle in Ameerpet. Nonetheless, it was still alive with many shops remaining open. Auto-drivers went about their business while a few special buses also plied. Traffic in Hitech city, Madhapur and Punjagutta areas gathered pace again in the evening as the IT crowd began heading home from work. This was an opportunity for cart vendors and tea stalls to make up for the day’s loss.Eating joints too opened by evening to cater to customers who would drop by after work.The Old City was unaffected by the bandh. Shops and establishments remained open and there was no sign of a shutdown at all.Pankaj, who runs an electronics store, put it bluntly when he said there was no question of supporting bandhs every other day.“What do we eat if we do not do our business?” he asked.A clever man, Nadeem from Abids, however was more “practical.” “I shutdown my shop when they ask me, and after they go, I open it again.For me, my family comes first and I live for them,” he said.Mohammed Zahed, who runs a jewelery store near the Charminar, was not a happy man either.Though there was no bandh in the Old City, he pointed out, “We are open all days, we do business, but where are all the customers? For us, keeping the shop open or shutting it down means the same now!” Roadside vendors and hawkers in the Old City are the worst-hit.Since the inflow of tourists has declined, they are finding it difficult to sell goods.Sahadev and Faheem, two such vendors, lamented, “We are poor and there is no point in living like this. The Government and the politicians seem to be least bothered”.No water woes for citizensThe proposed water tankers owners’ strike from Saturday has been called off by the HMWS&SB Water Tanker Owners’ Joint Action Committee after talks with HMWS&SB Managing Director Adhar Sinha on Friday afternoon.Sinha assured the JAC members that all their problems, including enhancement of tanker charges, will be resolved at the earliest.The water tankers will operate as usual and public should not get panicky, board officials said.
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