With less than a week left for Deepavali, shoppers thronged South Masi Street and Vilakkuthoon region on Sunday, with a total disregard for COVID-19 safety precautions.
But, despite the huge crowds, there is about 30% dip in sales this year, mainly owing to financial distress caused by COVID-19 induced lockdown, say traders.
Sunday being a holiday, there were big crowds inside big textile outlets across the city. The huge number of hawkers on the roadside in the core city area also did a good business with the bargain hunters. G. Periya Muniraj, a hawker on Netaji Road selling mats who was earlier working as an operator in a cinema house, says financial distress caused by the pandemic pushed him into selling mats ahead of Deepavali. “During the initial days of the pandemic, many people who lost their jobs started selling vegetables and essential commodities. Now they sell garments to make some good money before Deepavali,” he says.
But the sales volume is low this year, says G. Mohan, a street vendor. “Most people have not received their Deepavali bonus or have received only half of their salaries. Hence, they cannot splurge on Deepavali shopping,” he says.
Ashraf Tayub, secretary of Tamil Nadu Textile Merchants Association, says there is a major dip in the number of people who used to buy Deepavali clothes for their workers. “But, on the brighter side, the sales have picked up on Sunday,” he says.
“But the traders, anyway, anticipated 50% fall in sales. Since the wedding season coincided with Deepavali festival, sales is marginally better,” says Mr. Tayub.
There was a mild drizzle for some time on Sunday afternoon, causing concern for the hawkers. “We pray for clear skies in the next few days as a downpour will severely affect our business,” says Dinesh Kumar, a street vendor who has come all the way from from Uttar Pradesh to sell garments ahead of Deepavali.
COVID-19 safety precautions went for a toss across the city. Many people did not wear face mask, and there was a total disregard for personal distancing norms.
A police personnel on Netaji Road says people do not care to follow safety precautions despite repeated instructions over the public address systems. “Many think they will no longer contract COVID-19 infection,” he says.
Mr. Mohan says though the government has issued standard operating procedures for commercial establishments, there is no mechanism to check whether they were followed.
Nitesh Kothari, a trader, says commercial establishments have bought hand sanitisers and the premises are regularly disinfected. “But the shopkeepers are not insisting the customers to follow the precautions as they fear that it might affect the sales,” he says.
Corporation Commissioner S. Visakan says fine is slapped on those not wearing face masks in public places and against commercial establishments that violate norms. “It is a challenging situation as thousands of people do Deepavali shopping. We have instructed the officials to be vigilant,” he says.
