VARANASI: For generations, Banarasi paan has been among the products defining the unique identity of Banaras, which also inspired the song ‘Khaike Paan Banaras Wala’ of Bollywood movie ‘Don’. At Varanasi’s Naya Paan Dariba, a wholesale market of paan (betel plant leaves), business is experiencing a decline, particularly owing to rising popularity of cheaper gutkha pouches.
Vijay Kumar Chaurasia, 70, quit his job at the Railways Cancer Hospital in Varanasi in 1976 to join his family business of selling paan at Naya Paan Dariba. Nearly five decades later, the business, which brought prosperity to his family, has now turned into a burden.
“The youth prefer three pouches of gutkha for just Rs 7.50 instead of relishing a paan priced between Rs 8 and Rs 10. I used to sell paan worth Rs 1,000-2,000 daily. But I sold paan worth only Rs 10 yesterday. No business has forced me to rely on free ration given under Garib Kalyan Yojana,” said Chaurasia.
“We voted for Modi in the last two elections. But if the gutkha sale isn’t regulated by the Modi and Yogi governments, we’ll have to look for alternative option, if not in this election, then surely in future,” he said.
Rajesh Chaurasia, a paan wholesaler, added, “Apart from the rising sale of cheaper gutkha, emergence of smaller markets elsewhere in UP too has hit our business.”
Kanhaiya Lal Chaurasia said, “Paan isn’t produced in Banaras, it comes from eastern states. It’s heated and cooked here, after which all kinds of paan become Banarasi paan. Workers from Odisha helped us in heating and cooking paans for long. Now many of them have started the same business in Odisha and are supplying paan directly to our clients in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, ultimately hitting our exports to Bangladesh and Pakistan.”