Patna, Oct 17 (IANS) This is festival shopping season, but a village market in Bihar’s Aurangabad district wears a deserted look as it has been forced to shut down by Maoists, police said Saturday.
Not a single shop in Dewaria Bazaar in Aurangabad, about 120 km from here, has opened since Friday after the Maoists issued a diktat to close down the market for 15 days apparently because traders there had violated an earlier shutdown call by the rebels.
‘The Maoists forced the closure of the market,’ a police official said.
This has badly affected small traders and businessmen and created difficulties for hundreds of people in nearby villages ahead of Diwali, which is followed by Chhath, the most popular festival in Bihar.
Police officer Sashi Sekhar Choudhary told IANS over phone that the market was shut following handwritten posters by Maoists ordering that it be closed down. ‘Maoists also warned traders that they would face punishment if they opened their shops,’ he said.
The fear of Maoists in this rural area is such that shopkeepers, traders and businessmen have refused to open the market in spite of police deployment and promises of security cover by the local administration.
Some traders had opened their shops in violation of a 48-hour shutdown call given by Maoists early this week, so the entire market was closed down as punishment by the rebels.
‘Unless the Maoists issue a fresh diktat to lift the ban, we cannot open the market. It will create more trouble for us and anger them,’ said a shopkeeper.
The traders’ body has already apologised to the Maoists and pleaded with them to be allowed to open the market in time for Chhath festival.
This is not the first such instance. In 2007, Tandwa Bazaar in Aurangabad remained closed for over two weeks after a Maoist diktat.
Aurangabad is one of five districts in south Bihar that is regarded as a stronghold of the Maoists. In rural Bihar, complaints of extortion by the rebels during construction and development work is common and often leads to projects being stopped.
