Livelihoods of street vendors lie in tatters as they wait for more transport to open up
New Delhi: More than a month after the Delhi government allowed street vendors across the city to resume business, their livelihoods lie in tatters as a lack of footfall combined with the fear of the pandemic continues to exact a harsh toll on consumer demand.
A visit to four of the most crowded markets in the Capital painted a sorry picture of the usual hustle and bustle one saw during pre-Covid days. At Lajpat Nagar Market, Bablu Naik, carrying a dozen unsold cloth bags, said that during lockdown he took to selling face masks but quickly shut it down after facing losses. "I haven't been able to sell any of my bags today and the situation has been the same since the past several days," he said. "Even before Covid struck, I somehow used to make ends meet, but now even that is hard," Naik added.
At his stall set up on a pavement, Munna of Ajay Mehendi Designer laments the loss of business as festivals and ceremonies have come to a standstill. "We used to earn around Rs 1,000 for one hand but now no one approaches us due to fear of infection and a ban on gatherings," he said, adding that the onset of Shraadh rituals has proved to be a double whammy.
Sitting beside a garment stall at Sarojini Market, Chetan said that his shop's daily income of Rs 9,000 had declined to a meager Rs 200. He said that Rakhi was the only time after lockdown when they made a profit. "Even if there is a sizable crowd at my shop, police issue challan to the customers for violating lockdown norms," Chetan added.
At Janpath Market, a popular tourist spot, a worker at a flower shop blamed the lack of public transport options for the low footfall. "A majority of us haven't registered our first sale of the day," he said, adding that with metro resuming service, one hopes that customers will start trickling in. "Who will board buses with limited seating capacity and come here?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Ravi Gupta, squatting with his collection of children's garments along a road at Bhogal Market, said that after witnessing a dip in income following the COVID-19-induced lockdown, he started looking for a job but to no avail. "I pulled every stop to find a source of income but eventually gave up," Gupta said. "Covid is the final nail for us hawkers who were barely making ends meet before it," he told
Millennium Post.
In a bid to allay their losses, the Central government has launched the PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi, which provides hawkers loans of up to Rs 10,000 at low interest rates.
"We have received no support whatsoever from the government throughout the past several months," says Ram Yadav, standing next to his Banta shop at Lajpat Nagar.
