TURA: The festive mood has finally set in as Tura witnessed chaotic scenes and snarling traffic jams on Friday with thousands of citizens flocking the main market for Christmas shopping on Friday.
For the hundreds of traders dealing in clothes and shoe merchandise, it was a blessing after what was a dull season till the other day.
For many traders, particularly those running stores in the Tura super market, there was apprehension about sale of their products.
“We had already ordered in bulk large quantities of clothes and shoes but there was hardly any sale till Wednesday. We were wondering how we would repay our wholesale dealers, but, it seems things are now on the right track,” a happy lot of cloth merchants from the super market revealed.
Till the beginning of the week, there was hardly a trickle of customers, let alone sale in any of the shops.
But on Thursday, with majority of government employees having their salaries credited into their respective accounts and over two thousand Garo Hills Autonomous District Council employees flush with two months of salary payment, the footfall dramatically increased in the market area as shoe and cloth merchants made brisk sale in what is primarily the biggest trading each ending of the year.
All roads leading to and fro the main Tura market were choc a bloc with vehicles and commuters had a difficult time locating parking space. Even the main parking areas in the super market and urban department building were jam packed with vehicles and the district police that had set up a parking zone in the police parade ground soon found it was insufficient to accommodate the overflowing number of vehicles.
With the main State Bank of India on strike, hundreds of account holders were found in a beeline outside ATM sloths and traffic was so high that even the Chandmari SBI ATM and the Municipal Hub ATM soon ran out of money.
West Garo Hills deputy commissioner Ram Singh earlier, on Thursday, held a meeting with the SBI officials to ensure ATMs do not run out of cash during this biggest festive season in Garo Hills.
“SBI officials have assured us that all ATMs will be replenished with cash even on 22nd and 24th although it is a holiday and those that have already gone dry will be refilled by Saturday morning,” said Ram Singh to The Shillong Times.
Meanwhile, in the second largest town of Garo Hills-Williamnagar, shoppers had a trying time after traders downed their shutters in protest against extortion demands by criminals on Friday.
A group of persons claiming to be members of a local NGO reportedly went about demanding cash from each of the stalls while trading was at its peak on Friday afternoon.
Those refused to pay up had their goods confiscated by the extortionist gang which further angered the traders who decided to protest with a shutdown.
It was after police beefed up security with deployment of armed personnel at all the entry and exit points of the market that trading was resumed, a couple of hours later.