A hoarding put up at a vegetable market warns of Rs 500 penalty for keeping shops open post 2.30pm, at Punaichak on Wednesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, March 30: The state capital wore a deserted look on Wednesday, courtesy the clash of Titans at Mohali.

From shopkeepers to office-goers, none was ready to miss the thrill and excitement of the World Cup semi-final match. As soon as the match began at 2.30pm, the road traffic thinned down to negligible and crowds at the markets disappeared. Those still trying to carry on with their daily business were threatened with penalty.

Sample this: A hoarding at the vegetable market in Punaichak read: “The market will remain closed today after 2.30pm because of the India-Pakistan semi-final at Mohali and anyone (vegetable vendor) violating the rule will be fined Rs 500.”

The Punaichak Vegetable Vendors Association decided to shut down the market so that all vendors could enjoy the game with their family members in their houses. Sukhnandan Rai, a vegetable vendor, said: “We have decided to close our shops in the second half as we want to watch today’s match.”

The decision to close down the market was taken on Tuesday night itself. Many vendors did not even purchase vegetables from the wholesale market as they knew they would wrap up work early on Wednesday.

Rai added: “There are more than 200 vegetable vendors in the market and all have unanimously decided to close down their shops. Vendors violating the rule will be fined Rs 500 and the money collected will be deposited in the association fund.”

On being asked about the losses they would incur, vendors said they did not make any fresh purchase of vegetables to avoid overstocking. They managed to clear their stock of green vegetables by 2pm and the onions and potatoes left with them could last a few more days, they added. The vendors also installed two television sets in the market to enjoy the match together.

Sankar Yadav, a betel shop owner at Punaichak, said: “I asked all my regular customers to order their paans by 2pm as the shop will remain closed after that.”

The cricket fever was not confined to markets only. Thin attendance was registered at government and private offices too. Many private firms declared holiday or half day so that employees could watch the match with their family members. Amit Kumar, a marketing executive with Reliance Telecom, said: “We received a mail from our corporate office in Mumbai two days ago declaring Wednesday a holiday.” Amit added it was the first time the office had declared a holiday for a cricket match.

Employees at government offices made special arrangements for viewing the match. K.K. Singh, an employee at Vikash Bhavan, said: “We are going to watch the match in office only. Computers with Internet connections will help us get regular score updates.”

Most main roads, which witness regular traffic jams, recorded thin vehicular movement in the afternoon. Even Dakbungalow and Income Tax roundabouts witnessed little traffic movement as autorickshaw drivers opted to stay home in the latter half of the day.

Pawan Singh, a traffic constable at Dakbungalow Chowk, said: “We are having an easy time managing the traffic today as movement of vehicles is thin.”

Even Maurya Lok witnessed low footfall. A shopkeeper at Maurya Lok said by 3pm the footfall plummeted, as people rushed to their homes to watch the match.