Stage set for first Sunday Funday at Charminar today
The Hindu
Hawkers, kiosk owners asked to wrap up business by 4 p.m.
Hours to go for the ‘Sunday Funday’ event in the Charminar precinct, there is a tizzy of activity amid heavy rain. A dog-catching squad of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation swings into action, catching two strays hiding near the Traffic Police Station.
Another set of workers uses cutting tools to bring down a CCTV camera pole with a tangled set of cables. But the word on the street is that of confusion. “I think they will divert the traffic from Medina Junction. Nobody spoke with us. We are getting information from other shopkeepers,” says a restaurant owner about Sunday’s event. But closer to the city’s iconic monument, hawkers and kiosk owners have been told to shut shop by 4 p.m. “It won’t affect our business as it is likely to be a once-a-month event,” said Afzal, who sells artificial jewellery in the area.
Though Charminar has been a pedestrian zone for the past two years, it has been overrun by hawkers and hustlers who number hundreds in the 800-metre radius of the monument and sell everything from surgical masks to pani-puri to sunglasses.
India train in 'Big Apple': Getting used to cooler temperatures, playing white-ball games in morning
Virat Kohli takes break, Indian cricket team prepares for T20 World Cup in New York with morning training sessions.