The series of elections and feverish poll-related activity notwithstanding, economic activity is still sluggish in this district headquarter town. Even the small roadside petty vendors, who live on their daily income, have not been spared from the not so encouraging sales. Since a number of prospective customers are deeply involved in elections in villages, Mohammed Akbar, a roadside khadi cloth vendor, is waiting in despair for customers.
No customers yetBraving the blistering sun, Akbar waits anxiously from dawn to dusk for customers, looking at the bundles of khadi cloth spread around at the end of the Hyderabad road in Vinayaknagar in the town. Though the cloth looks attractive, it is not drawing customers in this ‘election season’ as it ought to.
The 40-year-old Akbar, belonging to Hyderabad, goes around all the towns in Telangana with his cloth products in his Maruti van. Accompanied by his brother and driver he parks the vehicle on one side of the road and spreads his products in an attractive way to catch the attention of customers.
Cloth sourced from RajasthanHe thus spends at least 20 days in a town and later shifts to another one. Likewise he spends most of the days in a year outside home. “We bring this shirt cloth from Rajasthan and sell a shirt piece at a maximum price of Rs.170. We do the shuttling once a month”, he says.
However, as business is slack it is not a happy story for Akbar. “We seldom find customers and therefore whatever we earn is hardly enough for our daily expenses. During festival days we see a little more income,” adds Akbar.
