siliguri: The traders of Siliguri are facing huge losses due to the intensive heat in Siliguri for the last few days. Due to the heat, local customers as well as customers from the Hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim have preferred to stay away from Siliguri.
Thus, business has been reduced drastically. Markets wear a deserted look.
According to the business associations, business in Siliguri on an average is to the tune of Rs 18 crore in different markets. Biswajit Das, Secretary of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry North Bengal said: “With the heatwave, there are hardly any customers. Very few people are coming down from the hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim. The business has reduced to Rs 12 crore daily.” On the other hand, business has increased in shops dealing in fans, coolers and air conditioners.
Over the past few days, the temperature of Siliguri has increased noticeably. Mercury has been hovering near the 40 degree Celsius mark in Siliguri for the past few days. Although there was rainfall on Thursday night, bringing down temperatutes, the market scenario did not change much.
Seth Srilal Market is one of the most important markets in Siliguri. About Rs 1.5 crore used to be the amount of daily transactions. This has reduced to around Rs 15 lakh. This has left businessmen worried.
Khokon Bhattacharya, Secretary of the market’s traders’ association, said: “We are disappointed. Goods that have a short shelf life are getting spoiled. Even though traders have opened shops, there is hardly any sales.”
Meanwhile, sales of AC and fans have increased considerably. Almost every shop dealing in ACs and fans in the city is crowded.
About 4000 ACs have been sold in the entire city within the last 15 days.