NEW DELHI: Mithilesh Yadav reaches the Sabzi Mandi (vegetable market) at Okhla around 3 am and continues to sell his vegetables till noon. The demand though has gone down dramatically over the last few days.
Yadav said that his fears are the same as that of his customers and that if the coronavirus continues to spread further in the national capital, he will be forced to shut shop and stay back in his rented accommodation with his family.
"I don’t know how we will manage our daily needs, but I am scared. I wear a mask but I end up meeting so many people at the Mandi... If things deteriorate, I might have to give up on selling vegetables soon," Yadav told this newspaper.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the all India lockdown till 14 April, Yadav rushed to a chemist and got a mask for himself but failed to get hold of a curfew pass. "I am not allowed to enter the mandi after 6 am, so other vendors like me reach the mandi at three in the morning. The mandi is often crowded. I don’t know for how much longer I can keep this up," he said.
He added that he applied for a curfew pass but couldn’t get one. "Some are scared to come out buy vegetables which is why I am having to wait longer than usual to clear out my stock. People are opting for eating packaged food items like pulses instead. I am barely making enough to sustain my family," he added.
Yadav is from Bihar but for him going home is not an option. His main worry he says is paying his rent. "Hamein tou kiraya dena padega...(We will have to pay the rent)," he says. Delhi government has ordered that no working person in Delhi should be asked for rent by the tenet but Yadav fears the worst.