PESHAWAR, Oct 15: Reconstruction has begun at the Sept 29 bomb blast scene in Qissa Khwani bazaar as some of the affected retailers and wholesalers have started rebuilding activity on self help basis.

Over a dozen shops and a multiple storied commercial building, Qazi Plaza, are undergoing reconstruction with the affected businessmen trying to put back their businesses from the scratch.

`The provincial government is slow in response, the affected businessmen can`t sit idle and wait for the official help to come after months,` said Sheikh Abdul Razaq, senior vice-president, Anjuman-i-Tajraan, Qissa Khwani, Peshawar.

Talking to Dawn, he said thegovernment had made the Peshawar Development Authority responsible to build the affected properties. A team from the deputy commissioner`s office, he added, visited to inspect the bomb blast site following which there was no movement from the government side.

The affected shopkeepers, he added, removed the debris of the affected buildings on their own.

The Peshawar municipal corporation`s staff, he said, came on the first day with their water tankers to extinguish the raging fire.

`There is nothing to hear from them afterwards, as well,` said Mr Razaq.

Qazi Plaza, with blackened exterior and ruined interior after getting massively hit by the bomb blast, presents a scene of major rebuilding activities. Accordingto Sheikh Razaq, the building housed 40 shops mostly wholesalers and two hotels. Some 17shops were completely destroyed in the plaza with wholesalers losing inventories to the raging firethat engulfed the building after the bomb explosion. Several shops across the road opposite to Qazi Plaza also got badly affected as a result of the explosion.

`A total of 40 shops and two hotels require major repairs with the businessmen suffering total losses of Rs100 million,` said Ehsan Ilahi, general secretary, Anjuman-i-Tajraan, Qissa Khwani.

The association, he said, had compiled data of financial losses suffered by the affected businessmen.

The information, he added, had been sought by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry for taking up with the provincial government the issue of paying compensation to the affected businessmen.Besides, the association has also submitted to the area police station the details of six shopkeepers killed and the workers who received injuries in the explosion.

`We have got tired of removing dead bodies again and again from the bazaar,` said Sheikh Razaq.

He said their past demands for improving security and disallowing commuters from parking their vehicles in the bazaar never paid heed to. Now, the police, he added, had prohibited parking of vehicles in the bazaar, but it`s too late after the Sept 29, last car bomb blast took 43 lives and left scores of injured.

People coming in cars from other districts, said Mr Ilahi, were now required to register their personal and vehicle details with the area police station before parking their vehicle in the bazaar. `We have been demanding this since long but no one listened to us earlier,` said Sheikh Razaq.

According to shopkeepers, Qissa Khwani bazaar has been targeted again and again because of the area`s police station, which they think, is the actual target. `We have been paying a heavy price for the presence of the Khan Razik police station here. The police station had received a threat, but the militants missed their target.

Yaseen Kashif, who said he suffered Rs3.5 million losses after getting his inventory burned on Sept 29, said Qissa Khwani and its surround-ings had seen seven bomb blasts during the past two and a half years. He said the occurrence of so many terrorism acts brought under question the effectiveness of the area police station.

`We have been demanding that the police station should be shifted to some other place,` said Mr Razaq.

According to businessmen, Qissa Khwani bazaar lost whatever marginal business activities were taking place prior to the blast.

`Cost of doing business has increased against the income that has not registered growth because of unfavorable business circumstances, said Arbab Mohammad Jameel, owner of Peshawar Fa100da. He said with every bomb blast in the bazaar or in its close proximity the area shopkeepers lose business.`There is no business, how can we meet our expenses,` said Razaq.

He said Qissa Khwani bazaar retailers and wholesalers depended on customers and shopkeepers from rural areas around Peshawar. `No one is coming to the bazaar these days,` said Mr Ilahi.

The Qissa Khwani bazaar eateries, said Arbab Jameel, were depended on rural folks. `Many stop coming because of lack of security as there is a deepening sense of fear,` said Mr Jameel.

How much time it would take before business activities get back to normal? Shopkeepers came up with varied opinion.

`Business activities take, at least, two months to pick momentum after every blast,` said Mr Kashif.

According to shopkeepers, there hasdeveloped a common saying `subh ko dhamaka, raat ko faaqa` (a blast in the morning leads to starvation in the night)`.

Many believe that when human tragedy of the magnitude of loss of human life experienced by a single Charsadda family takes place shoppers` confidence might take a bit longer to get restored.

Some 18 members of a Charsadda family, mostly women and children, died on the spot after their van, parked in Qissa Khwani bazaar, caught fire after a nearby vehicle laden with explosives exploded.

`The tragedy has left a sharp imprint on people`s minds,` said the eatery owner. `We come because of compulsion as we have to earn livelihood, people don`t take risks,` said Arbab Jameel.