Ayodhya traders stage protest against proposed widening of roads

Traders and shopkeepers of Ayodhya kept their shops closed on Thursday to protest Uttar Pradesh government's proposed widening of roads in the temple town.

The project the traders protested against involves widening of the 13-km-long stretch from SaadatGanj, the entry point of Faizabad city, to Naya Ghaat on the banks of the river Saryu into four lanes.

A local traders' union president, Nand Kumar Gupta, said that around 800 shopkeepers will be adversely affected by the project.

''Most of the local traders have shops along the main road of Ayodhya. They will be uprooted if the road is widened,'' he said.

The local administration has booked Gupta under various criminal sections for allegedly running a unauthorised water purifying plant and for creating hurdles in the government's work.