Patna,(BiharTimes): Shops in Exhibition Road, Bhattacharya Road, Dak Bungalow Road, Raja Market and Station Road were closed for the second day on Saturday in protest against the alleged high-handedness of sales tax officers and police. The shop-keepers have given a call of 72 hours strike.

It must be recalled that some traders of Exhibition Road allegedly assaulted a team of sales tax officers during a raid on their shops on Wednesday last. On Thursday the sales tax officers, with the help of police, sealed 56 shops in the Exhibition Road. The police also arrested six shop-keepers.

The issue has acquired political colour with the former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who used to hold the finance portfolio, came down heavily on the state government for harassing the traders.

He is at present in Delhi campaigning for his party’s candidates for the Assembly election. In a statement he said that for seven-and-a-half years no such incident took  place in the state. But now such incidents are coming to light. This is another failure of the Nitish government. What was the need of conducting raids for three continuous days, he asked.