Merchants in India Nervously Look to Bombproof Premises

NEW DELHI -- Two days after a bomb exploded in a busy Delhi bazaar, killing two people and injuring 22, harried merchants sat together to write a list of all the shops in the area, the 1,300-year-old neighborhood known as Mehrauli. Working from memory for an hour, they came up with 106 names -- shops selling bathroom fittings, kitchen supplies, television sets, spices and many other things.

"Look at the recent bomb blasts," said Rakesh Manchanda, whose establishment sells cellphones. "They always occur in busy marketplaces. We cannot remain chaotic and disorganized like before."

He held up the list. "How can open, crowded bazaars like ours with so many entry points and thousands of people be secured?" he asked.

It's a question being debated at most markets and police stations in the city these days. Delhi is scrambling to find ways to secure its many neighborhood markets without upsetting the flow of customers who swarm into them daily.

In the past four months, bombings have savaged Indian cities one after the other, killing more than 140 people. Now, with a long series of festivals that began Tuesday and mounting terror threats, the city police chief has ordered officers to make special security arrangements, including for markets. This week, officers at local stations began meeting with shopkeepers' associations to jointly discuss solutions.

"I will not do anything that will affect your business, but I just want to bring order to your market," said K.P. Kukreti, the station officer for Mehrauli, addressing a gathering of 60 shopkeepers. "We are living in dangerous times, and you cannot be indifferent anymore. There could be more bombings."

"I will create three police checkpoints in the market. But you cannot cramp the narrow alleys with your vehicles and goods, pushcarts and rickshaws," he told the traders. "Check the coolies who work in your shop. I want you to check even your trash carefully."

Across the city's markets, public-address systems, metal detectors and TV cameras are being installed. According to an industry estimate, the size of the Indian market for video surveillance in 2007 was $82 million and growing because of the rise in terrorism and crime.

Police found vital clues from the footage of a TV camera in the Greater Kailash market, a posh shopping area in the city and one of the places hit by serial bombings in the capital Sept. 13. In total, 21 people were killed and 100 wounded. On Sunday, in the run-up to the festival shopping rush, the market increased the number of cameras from four to six.

"The bombs in our market were kept in trash cans," said Rajendra Sharda, president of the Greater Kailash Market Association. "So we have removed all the trash cans. Cleaners will come every 30 minutes with a wheeled trolley and collect the garbage from the streets."

He said the shopkeepers have jointly hired 10 new guards and bought new metal detectors. "Ladies from good families come to our area," he noted. "So we have to check everybody politely, without upsetting them."

In Mehrauli, police have begun to check the backgrounds of all shop attendants and laborers who help load cargo.

Despite the many precautions, panic gripped the market again Monday when shops received hoax calls about three bombs. "There was a near-stampede. Everybody was running here and there. Television channels were flashing the news, and it was frightening," said Rajesh Kharbanda, who owns an electrical goods shop. "We need to have a public-address system."

Officer Kukreti chided the merchants.

"I can arrange for the loudspeakers," he said. "But if you believe rumors and what the TV channels show, then what is the point? You have to start believing me when you hear my voice on the public-address system."