After dip in savings, coconut vendor seeks govt aid to feed family of five in Vijayawada
VIJAYAWADA: Sixty-year-old N Venkata Subamma walks four kilometers everyday from Kanaka Durga Varadhi to Mahatma Gandhi Road in Vijayawada in the hope of earning some money by selling coconuts. But, the Covid-19 lockdown has hit her business hard and her income has fallen from Rs 500 to Rs 40 per day.
“Before everything was shut down, I used to earn decent income to take care of my family. But due to the lockdown, I have not been getting many customers. Earlier, customers in good numbers used to purchase coconuts from her. But now I just sit alone the whole day praying and hoping to get at least five customers,” Subamma tells TNIE.
The sexagenarian is a native of Penumaka village in Guntur district. She has been doing coconut business for the past three decades. The elderly woman and her son, who is a tailor, are the only two breadwinners in the family of five. Recalling the tough times faced by her family during the lockdown, Subbamma said that they had survived with little earnings of her son and an old age pension of Rs 2,200 received by her husband Kammagiri (70).
“Due to poor business during lockdown, we took a loan of Rs 20,000 from a private moneylender for survival and now we are not able to repay it. Even after relaxation in lockdown, my business has not recovered. I spend Rs 2,000 every two days to procure 100 coconuts from a stock point at Samba Murthy Road,” Subbamma says.
Earlier, the traders at the coconut stock point used to give an exemption for paying the amount to procure the stocks, but now they are also not in a position to give stocks on credit due to the pandemic.
She expressed her desire of starting fruit business at the same point. She urged the government to extend financial assistance for pushcart vendors to tide over the crisis.