The trade body in Srinagar’s Habba Kadal area on Tuesday staged a protest against the continuous closure of Old Habba Kadal bridge from last seven months.According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), witnesses said that at least 150 shopkeepers whose shops are located around old Habba Kadal bridge assembled on the road and staged a protest against the continuous closure of old bridge in the area.Chanting slogans, the traders demanded immediate intervention of the district administration to lift the curbs on the bridge.Aijaz Ahmad, president of the trade body said that the old bridge is closed for the vehicular as well as pedestrians movement from last seven months, causing huge losses to the traders here.
He told KNO that the old bridge was closed for vehicular as well as pedestrians movement on August 5, when the central government abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (Article 370) and bifurcated the erstwhile State into two Union Territories—J&K and Ladakh.Ahmad further stated that their business has got fully affected from last seven months as no customers are visiting their shops due to the closure of the old Habba Kadal Bridge.Traders said that concertina wire continued to remain erected on the bridge from last seven months. “A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp is located near the bridge and the personnel deployed there had erected concertina wires on the bridge, which has not been removed yet,” they said.The protesting trade body later demanded authorities especially the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Dr. Shahid Choudhary to intervene into the matter and lift the curbs on the bridge so that they can run their respective business freely and would heave a sigh of relief—(KNO)