Bhopal: The shutdown drive against commercial establishments operating from residential areas triggered protests from traders on Monday, with the Bhopal Chamber of Commerce and Industries demanding an immediate halt to the action and implementation of mixed land use in the city.Municipal corporation teams began the drive at 9am and carried out sealing action against several commercial establishments operating from residential properties across the city. These included shops, hotels, guest houses and gyms.“The chamber and traders will submit a memorandum to the chief minister on Tuesday seeking a permanent solution. Bhopal urgently needs a new master plan and mixed land use should be implemented,” chamber president Govind Goyal said.Over 300 traders attended a meeting convened by the Bhopal Chamber of Commerce and Industries and Bhopal Vyapari Mahasangh to discuss the shutdown drive. They demanded that the action be stopped until the govt resolves the land-use issue.Goyal said the master plan implemented in 1995 was valid until 2005, but Bhopal had remained without a new master plan for nearly 21 years. The delay, he said, had created uncertainty over land use in several parts of the city.The chamber claimed that sealing notices were being issued to a large number of traders operating in areas still classified as residential, causing widespread concern across the city’s business community.“Traders have committed no wrongdoing. The present situation is the result of a policy failure on the part of the govt. Had a new master plan been introduced on time, many areas still classified as residential would have been designated for commercial use,” traders’ association president Anand Soni said.Soni claimed that nearly 90% of Bhopal’s trade was being affected by the action. Traders in Arera Colony also expressed anger over the sealing drive and sought immediate intervention by the state govt.According to the chamber’s estimates, the action could directly affect the livelihoods of six to seven lakh people, considering traders’ families and workers employed at commercial establishments. It claimed that the continued closure of establishments could also put 1.5 lakh to two lakh jobs at risk.