As crowds throng markets, prices shoot up

People thronged the city markets on the eve of

Saraswati puja and

Ayudha puja .

The demand led to an increase in the prices of flowers and other puja articles by at least two fold. But, this did not deter the public from coming to the markets and buying the articles.

Though they could be seen wearing face masks, physical distancing went for a toss due to the presence of large crowds.

However, despite the increase in prices, vendors said they were unable to break even. The increase in price was only during festival days.

The vendors said that a kg of jasmine on a regular day would cost ₹300 to ₹350. But on the eve of the festival the price of jasmine ranged from ₹600 to ₹700. Similarly, prices of other flowers had also increased, they said.

President of a flower merchant association S. Ramachandran said that the trade was yet to recover from the impact of COVID-19. Compared to last year's Saraswati puja and Ayudha puja , this year was even worse.

He said the closure of temples during weekends was one of the reasons. People usually visit temples on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. But closure of the temples on these days meant no business on the usually busy days.

Agreeing with him was another flower merchant S. Sundarapandian.

He said that the production itself had gone down. Apart from this, they also faced other issues such as logistics.

As crowds throng markets, prices shoot up

The cost of flowers doubled on the eve of ‘Saraswati puja’ and ‘Ayudha puja’