BHOPAL: Rakhi sellers in the city are anxious and angry. They say that the government’s sudden decision to impose lockdown in the city has ruined them with 90 per cent of their stocks lying unsold.
Ravi Shrivastava, owner of Chunni Lal Rakhi Shop, New Market, has been selling rakhis for the past 20 years. He told Free Press he has suffered a loss of Rs 5 lakh due to sudden announcement of lockdown.
“Sarkar jab shapath leti hai to sabko bulati hai aur tyohar aata hai to lockdown laga detee hai… (The government invites a lot of people for oath-taking ceremony but imposes lockdown during festivals),” he said.
He said he had bought rakhis worth Rs 5 lakh from Delhi three days back and couldn’t sell even 10 per cent of the stock. Had the government issued a warning regarding lockdown earlier, he wouldn’t have bought huge stocks, he said. “Madam ab to phasi lagane ki ichchha ho rahi hai Sushant Singh Rajput ki tarah…,” he said .
Similarly, Sachin Yogi who is the sole bread winner of his family said this was his seasonal business, which is down by 80 per cent. He started selling rakhis three or four days back and his total sales to date is not more than Rs 30,000.
He fetched stock of Rs 1.5 lakh from Delhi and Mumbai. The transportation charges have doubled this year. “We had to pay Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000. Earlier it was Rs 30,000 to 40,000,” he said . Besides rakhi, he had to pay Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 as rent and electricity charges of godown. “Had we known about the impending lockdown, we would not have bought the stock,” he said.
Manoj Rathore who has been selling rakhis for 32 years in New Market said they are staring at a huge loss due to the sudden lockdown. He said that he has not recovered even rent of his shop. He fetched rakhis worth Rs 1.5 lakh from Mumbai and Delhi but couldn’t sell even 10 per cent of the stock. The peak time of selling rakhi is 10 days before Rakshabandhan. “It will be good for us if the government allows us to open shops till July 31,” he said.
Manish Khatwani, owner of Archies Gallery, Bittan Market, said that he had ordered only 20 boxes (each containing 1,000 pieces) of rakhis this year – just half of the usual quantity – but a big part of it is still unsold. “If the government had done it in a planned manner, people could have made their purchases in advance,” he said. He also said that due to Covid scare, the production of rakhis was down and the transportation costs have gone up.
Vinay Kumar, who was selling rakhis from the pavement in Gautam Nagar said that he had bought rakhis worth Rs 10,000 on July 20 and doesn’t know what to do with the unsold stock.
Tripti Vajpayee, a student, said that she had bought rakhis three days back for sending them to his brother who lives in another town. “I am back again to buying more rakhis for my local brothers,” she said.
