Before dawn on Tuesday, about 100 policemen led by DCP Gunwant Rao and other officials began removing unauthorised vegetable stalls from the Bhagal Main Road, Bhajiwala Ni Pol, Masidiya Sheri, Ruwala Tekra and Golwala Ni Pol areas, all surrounding the main vegetable market. Traders were asked to remove their stalls and not operate from the area.

The police removed their goods, and also clamped fines on a number of traders operating from the main road and bylanes off the congested Bhagal area.

The traders, ruffled by the sudden action of the police, threatened to close down all their shops as a mark of protest, but later decided to meet the police commissioner in the context. While they claimed that they were being robbed of their only means of livelihood, the police chief is said to have told them that the decision was taken in the larger interests of the people and after consulting officials of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), the traffic department and other authorities concerned. Sharma had directed the removal at a meeting of the Road Safety Council on Monday. However, despite the operation the actual market continued to run smoothly.

When contacted, Sharma told Express Newsline, ``Decisions of this nature are taken after consulting the SMC, the traffic department, among others, and are for general good''.

He pointed out that the traders' allegations that they were being deprived of their livelihood were baseless because they had encroached upon the main road, which was obstructing smooth flow of traffic.

Meanwhile, while traders opposed the move, people at large welcomed it saying traffic congestion around the busy Bhagal area had been reduced considerably.