With markets and grocery shops permitted to function only till 10 a.m. in the morning, retail outlets and wholesale vegetable and fruit markets are seeing a drop in sales.
It is difficult for a trader to come to the market, buy vegetables, return to his shop and sort out the vegetables for sale before 10 a.m. So, there is a steep drop in sales. This has resulted in fall in sales at the markets, too. Some traders open the shop very early in the morning so that retail traders from nearby towns can come and purchase the vegetables, says a wholesale trader at Anna Market.
M. Rajendran, president of TK Market Vegetable Traders’ Association, said the TK Market opens by 6 a.m. or so and closes for customers by 10 a.m. “Last year, when there was lockdown, we sold vegetables in small trucks. This year, with restricted timing there are no customers. A lot of vegetables are going waste too. We thought of closing the market for a few days. But, since it is an essential commodity, we cannot do so. We hope the officials concerned will discuss the issue and come out with solutions,” he said.
Galil Rahman, president of the City Fruit Merchants Association at Karuppa Gounder Street, said the association, with 54 members, plans to close the shops for a few days. “We are incurring heavy loss. We get fruits from different States. It is almost impossible to unload the fruits and sell them before 10 a.m. We sell to other States too. There is a lot of wastage. We are looking at discussing and arriving at a decision on whether to shut the shops for a few days,” he said.
