More than a third of commercial establishments in the city remained closed post Diwali on Monday as traders took a day off from their hectic business days of the last week prompted by heavy buying of various festival items by the citizens.
Business centers across the city wore a deserted look with a much lighter traffic on roads as people confined themselves to homes for celebrating the Govardhan puja.
The morning hours saw a number of processions taken out by locals which passed through various busy throughfares to observe some religious rituals a day after Diwali.
The streets remained abuzz with people still shopping for festive items from roadside stalls. The city’s busiest market on Malviya road which was teeming with buyers of the last three days wore a deserted look during the early part of the day with most shops closed in the locality.
There were quite a few petrol pumps which remained closed during the morning hours as most attendants from nearby towns left for their homes to celebrate Diwali.
The smaller shops particularly those owned by grocers in downtown localities started opening by evening hours . ‘It a tradition in Raipur or for that matter any city that traders would revel in the festivities by being in their hometown but those who are from the city open their establishment by evening,’ stated grocer Jogilal in Mowa locality.
He said that grocers do brisk business for most of the week before the Diwali day and pack up for their hometowns or celebrate the festival by being with the family at home.
The Railway station in the city saw unprecedented rush as people were still leaving the city for either tourist locations or their home towns.
The day after Diwali is the most relaxing for most businessmen owning large establishments as they are free of the day’s tension of getting back to routine work after the Diwali night. It is anyway difficult to keep an establishment open a day after Diwali as most workers would invariably either ask for leave or visit their hometowns, stated Kamal Singhania, owner of a Electronics showroom at Pandri.
The biggest relief for the citizens was that all banks remained open and routine transactions did not become a problem for anybody stated B K Singh, a government servant.
However, the hardest item to get a day after Diwali is fresh fruits as people shop most of it a day before Diwali or on the festive day, he said.