Daryaganj wore a deserted look this Sunday.

Gone was the hustle and bustle on the pavements, the yellowed texts stacked against walls, books piled up helter-skelter, hawkers shouting and book lovers, young and old, jostling through the crowds.

And the change has come to stay.

The 45-year-old book market is facing the brunt of a police drive to curb traffic congestion, pick-pocketing and eve-teasing in the area.

The market, covering a one-kilometre stretch, never had the official permission to run. But nonetheless, the hawkers had been allowed to sit there every Sunday.

The police say the Sunday rush makes the area that much difficult to manage. So, while the station house officer (SHO) of Daryaganj police station is on leave, Additional SHO Madan Lal closed the market, saying he was short of staff.

“Not just book sellers, but cloth sellers and others gather there too,” said Lal, “they have started using the road, which results in regular jams and eve-teasing”.

“The police can close the market anytime if there is a law and order problem because of it,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Jaspal Singh, who however, was unaware that his subordinates had shut down the market on Sunday.

The book sellers say the police had not even informed them in advance about the closure.

“We came in the morning with our sacks and an hour later, police came over and asked us to go away,” said Subhash Aggarwal, President of the Sunday Daryaganj Book Bazaar Association.

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