The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : No helmet stocks: traders seek relaxation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 05, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

No helmet stocks: traders seek relaxation

By Vikram Sharma

HYDERABAD, NOV. 4. "You have to wear a helmet," say the Hyderabad city traffic police while those selling the headgear complain that they do not have sufficient stocks. Caught between them are the people who are thronging the helmet shops to buy one. While the shopkeepers ask for a few days' relaxation to get the stocks, the Traffic police are keen to enforce the rule and say that there is no question of any relaxation.

Unable to cope with the rush, the shop owners are a worried lot as people are making a beeline at the shops but returning empty handed, as the demand is very high while the supply, they say, is low.

"Since morning, more than 50 customers have come to my shop and when I told them that there are no stocks, they left grumbling. If they give some relaxation, for at least 15 days, we can get more number of helmets than we regularly do," says Fernandez, owner of Vishal automobile and spares shop at Balkampet. He maintained that he contacted several helmet dealers but all replied that they were waiting for the stocks to come from other cities.

Similarly, Roshan Singh of Kiran automobiles at Punjagutta said that whatever stocks he had had been exhausted. "I do not understand from where to get the helmets. Since yesterday, people have been thronging my shop asking for helmets, but from where can I provide them?

They have even left their telephone numbers with us asking that they be informed whenever the stocks arrive," Mr. Singh says.

While this is so, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Tejdeep Kaur Menon maintained that stocks would be entering the city by Friday noon.

"I have spoken to the manufacturers in Delhi asking them to provide us with helmets. Nearly 10,000 helmets are coming tomorrow. There is no question of giving any relaxation," she asserted.

Mrs. Menon said shops selling only one particular brand were facing the problem while others were not as they were selling headgear of various brands. "There is absolutely no problem," she said.

Whatever may be the reason, it appears as though the common man is at the crossroads.

The police are `teaching them a lesson' if they do not have a helmet, and on the other hand, even if someone wants to buy one, they are unable as the shop owners complain of no stocks.

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