HARIPUR, Nov 11: The tehsil municipal administration of Haripur has banned the entry of all kinds of vehicles in the main bazaar from Wednesday. The ban would remain in force till chand raat, officials said.

They said the decision was taken with the consent of local traders at a recent meeting held at the office of the tehsil nazim.

People, particularly women, had been complaining since the advent of Ramazan about the problems caused by the entry of pushcarts and vehicles in the main bazaar during rush hours.

They had also been demanding a ban on these vehicles particularly in the area between the main chowk and the Sheranwala Gate so that the people could do marketing without hassles.

The TMA had removed all pushcarts from the main bazaar, banning the entry of all kinds of vehicle till Eid and had closed all entry points of the bazaar.

PICKPOCKETS: As the Eid shopping gains momentum with crowds of people thronging bazaars in the city, gangs of pickpockets have stepped up their activities, depriving people of cash and other necessary documents usually contained in a wallet.

It was reported that an organized gang of male and female pickpockets had been active since the beginning of the holy month and had so far deprived many shoppers of cash.

Villagers particularly women were the main target of this group.

During a visit to city bazaars and shopping centres it was observed that several people were deprived of money almost daily but only a few cases were reported to police due to lengthy investigation process. The other places where the pickpockets find their prey easily are bus and wagon stands and public transport.

Imran a local businessman, was recently deprived of Rs50,000 by a pickpocket when he was about to leave for Lahore.

He told police that he embarked a Rawalpindi-bound wagon for onward journey when an unidentified man who had covered himself with achaddarsat beside him only for about 10 seconds and disembarked, taking his wallet.

He said he realized after some time that his wallet was missing. But by then it was too late to apprehend the culprit, he added.