A police team met and assured a group of Burrabazar businessmen on Saturday that security in the trade hub would be looked after and hoodlums would not bother them again.

The businessmen, however, pointed out that not a single senior officer was part of the delegation.

The meeting, at 163, Rabindra Sarani, was attended by 200 traders. It was convened to discuss criminal activities in the Burrabazar-Posta belt.

?We have mixed feelings about the meeting,? said Nirmal Nangalia of Onkar Chitpur Vyabsayik Samity. ?We are happy at the assurance that we received from police. But the officers we met are only of the inspector-level. We had hoped that at least one senior officer would be present. We would have felt more reassured then.?

On Saturday, almost all the top-level officers of the city police were at Alipore Bodyguards Line for a fete organised by the force.

A trader who attended the meeting said: ?We have already spoken to the officers of Burrabazar police station a number of times. They know what is going on in the area. We wanted their bosses to be present so that we could quiz them about the strategy to make Burrabazar crime-free.?

He asserted: ?An officer of inspector rank is not the right person to ask questions on strategy. At least an assistant commissioner should have come and spoken to us.?

P.R. Goenka, president of the Samity, stated: ?Two officers from Burrabazar police station ? additional officer-in-charge S. Dutta and a sub-inspector ? represented the cops. They asked us about the problems we are facing in running our businesses, about the local hoodlums and how they are creating trouble. The members of our organisation shared all the information they had with the cops. Before leaving the meeting, we were asked to inform police if any criminal tried to extort money from us.?

The Samity, a body of 100 traders, was formed in 1996 with the aim of driving out criminals from the Posta- Burrabazar trading zone.

?We kept our locality peaceful for the past five years and we will continue the fight against hooliganism in our business zone. We have asked our members to keep their eyes and ears open and inform police as soon as they notice anything suspicious,? added Goenka.

The Samity initiated the move to draw the police?s attention to the law and order situation in Burrabazar after businessman Haribansh Rai was beaten up by criminals in public on February 4.

Three men named in the FIR were held on the Howrah station premises four days after the incident. The accused were on their way to Patna.