After a wet Durga puja, festive mood ahead of Diwali is also getting dampened by the intermittent rains for couple of days in the State capital. The market is witnessing a slow season despite being flooded with varieties of eye catching items. Even with less than 10 days to go for Diwali, people are not coming out of their houses for the shopping.
Owner of Balaji Saree centre at Mahavir Chowk Kamal Jain who had adorned his shop with variety of latest fashion suits and sarees collection is depressed with the sagging sale. In order to attract the customers, he is providing lucrative offers too but to no avail. He said, “This year’s sale is very dull compared to the previous year. It is mainly because of the rain from past few weeks that business took a hit.”
City market is flooded with new variety of crackers- Palak wheel, Komal Cornation, Happy Planet, Dhoni Junior Chocolate boom Sparkler, floating diyas, earthen lamps and designer candles but all are observing drooping sale.
“The sale has not picked up till date. The firecrackers business is down by 50-60 per cent this year,” said Sitaram a firecrackers retailer at Upper Bazar.
Echoing him another retailer Rajesh Sahu said, “I am selling firecrackers since long but the weather is spoiling everything. In past five years I have never seen such a thin crowd on the market.”
Meanwhile, state’s earthen goods artisans are also in trouble as their diyas, toys and other items are getting wet due to rain. Idol makers are also facing similar problem, their clay used in idols of Goddess Kali is not drying.
A porter from Harmu Road Satya Kumar said, “Diwali is our business time as we earn extra bucks during this period. But this year, it seems difficult to supply clay items in the market due to bad weather.”
Besides rain, increase in prices of the essential commodity is accounted responsible for the drop in sales. Soaring prices of commodities are making hole in the pocket of common man as a result of which people are opting to celebrate the festival in simplest way.
“Inflation has forced me to cut down my diwali expenses. Due to price rise, I have convinced my children to celebrate this Diwali in simple way,” said Nirula Kumari a resident of Ratu road.