by subhajyoti kanjilal biplab bhattacharjee zeeshan jawedkolkata as bjp workers set fire to a police car on rabindra sarani on tuesday afternoon businessman mandeep singh who was neither a protester nor had violated any police order ran for cover hurriedly lowering the shutter of his garments store located near the burning car singhs plight was shared by hundreds of traders across the citys central business district and other shopping hubs in central and north kolkata who cursed their luck as bjps tuesday morning agitation which gave way to a violent clash with policemen prevented customers from reaching the traditional shopping hubs and forced many shop owners to shut business for the entire day and all of this happened when less than three weeks are left to the start of durga pujawhat made the situation even worse was incessant rain from monday evening that had hampered business activities further in these hubsthe situation became so violent in the afternoon that we couldnt dare to keep our shops open i lost anything between rs 30000 and rs 40000 because of the protest and the clash who will mend my losses rued mangi jain who runs a garments store on rabindra saranimandeep singh of purti king garments store on mg road said he had downed shutters but had hoped to resume business once the rally was over i countered a loss of around rs 50000 for the day customers were in any case few from the start of the day because of the traffic restriction in the area but the clash instilled such fear in the mind of shoppers that none headed this way even in the evening said singhthe incessant rain since monday further dampened business activities as major markets in central and north kolkata wore a deserted look and most shops only received a few customersother parts of burrabazar which bustles with commercial activities on weekdays lacked the usual hustle and bustle during the first half it was the rainy weather which kept customers away many pockets were waterlogged due to overnight rain we were hoping business would pick up in the second half but due to the fear of violence in the rally customers stayed away one whole day of business was wasted just before the festive season said amit tiwary a retailer of saris on jamuna lal bajaj street off mg road many wholesalers could not dispatch the orders as most roads and alleys were shut down due to the rally small goods vehicles could not move almost the entire day in burrabazar it is impossible to transfer goods without van rickshaws and small goods vehicles said another traderthe situation was worse at howrahs mangla haat where cops prevented shopowners from setting up their makeshift shops at the weekly market between bangal babu bridge and howrah court from midnight itself the cops asked us to remove our shops from midnight itself and we had no business on tuesday this time of the year happens to be