HYDERABAD: An unpleasant situation leading to the abrupt closure of the city’s main wholesale cloth market occurred on Thursday when a team of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials paid a surprise visit to various shops to check their sale proceeds.

According to shopkeepers, some half a dozen FBR officials arrived in the market and started checking sale proceeds of various shops. “The officials directly checked cash counters of the shops without seeking permission from their owners which infuriated traders,” they said, adding that the market’s union gave a call for immediate closure of businesses at the market which was heeded.

The area police and then Rangers personnel arrived at the the market to prevent any untoward incident while the market remained closed till the evening. The union went into an emergency meeting to decide a future course of action.

Sources said that some shopkeepers took the FBR officials to the union’s office for talks on their strange conduct. Later, the FBR officials alleged that they were held hostage [by the shopkeepers]. The Rangers personnel finally took away the officials with them.

Later, a case was lodged by one of the officials at the Phuleli police station vide FIR No. 63/18 against union leaders/shopkeepers, three of who were identified by the complainant.

Kashif Saeed, the joint secretary of the Azeemusshan Cloth Market union said that the FBR officials were not held hostage rather they were treated well. When Rangers personnel arrived, the officials left with them, he added.

He said that FBR team paid a surprised visit to the market along with police personnel riding six mobile vans which caused a stir. The scared shopkeepers started pulling down the shutters in panic, he added.

He said the union had decided to register its protest against registration of the FIR against shopkeepers. A sit-in would be held on the road outside the market, he said.

Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Ikram Rajput, senior vice president Mohammad Arif and vice president Iqbal Hussain Baig in a joint statement termed the FBR officials’ conduct “unbecoming” which caused chaos. They said that senior FBR officials should sit with the business community of the city in order to resolve issues amicably.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2018