T Nagar came to a halt as traders down shutters

CHENNAI: The commercial nerve centre of Chennai city came to a virtual halt here on Thursday after more than 2,000 shops downed their shutters in Usman Road and Ranganathan Street protesting the recent crackdown by the Corporation and CMDA against illegal structures. The area, which would give motorists a hard time on a normal day owing to congestion, wore a deserted look in the morning as some of the prominent shops participated in the dawn-to-dusk shutdown.Residents in the area said it was rare to see T Nagar in such a calm state. While most bylanes, including Sarojini Street, Motilal Street and Mahalakshmi Street, would become parking spots for shoppers, making even stepping out of their houses difficult, the residents said it was a pleasant surprise on Thursday morning when they found the streets deserted.“We wouldn’t have space to park our own vehicles here but today was different,” said Vijayan, a resident of Motilal Street.Even policemen on duty had an easy time unlike normal days. The traffic was light and the officers said it was not necessary to persuade the motorists to keep moving and not halt.However, small-time traders, who came to Usman Road early in the morning to open shops, said they were “asked” to close down to show “solidarity” with the shops that were sealed. “I run a snack shop on the entrance of Sarojini Street but they wanted me to close even that. I conceded as animosity with trade associations would make it difficult to run business,” said Pandian, a shop owner. Many shoppers, who spoke to Express, said they were disappointed with the shutdown even though they understood it was a democratic way of protest.Meanwhile, members of the Confederation of Tamil Nadu Traders’ Association, who held a protest meet in one of the buildings on Ranganathan Street after the police allegedly denied permission to hold the meet on the road, said that residents in the area had no rights to complain about violations by commercial establishments as most of their own buildings had such issues.Leader of the traders’ body Vikrama Raja said that representatives of the associations have decided to meet Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa next week and appeal to her for help. He said it was not only the shop owners who were affected, but also thousands of families who depend on the business in T Nagar.