PUDUCHERRY: Pavement vendors selling food, garments and other products in Puducherry have taken to hawking vegetables in a desperate bid to sustain themselves amid the lockdown.
Manoj Prasad, 53, a pani puri vendor from Jharkhand, is now selling vegetables using his cart as his business remains shut due to the lockdown.
“My business near the Chief Secretariat on Bear Road was good but corona changed everything," said Manoj who has been in Puducherry for the past 25 years. He has to provide for himself and his wife and support his son who is studying engineering.
"With no income and resumption of the business remaining uncertain, I am now going from street to street though the earnings are meagre," he said.
He is not alone. Even those whose businesses have been permitted by the government are finding the going difficult and have taken to vegetable hawking. The pavement vendors selling garments and other items on Nehru Street are dependent on tourists for sale. Now with no tourists, their products are not moving.
“Even the little business we used to get from local people is not there as they also do not have money due to the lockdown. After waiting for customers the whole morning, the first sale took place only after 3.30 p.m. But the shop had to be closed down by 5 p.m as per government regulations," laments P Venkatesan, a garment vendor on Canteen Street. The government can permit shops at least upto 7 p.m, which will help us, he says.
Around 5 to 10 percent of garment and other vendors have taken to vegetable hawking in the absence of income, says state CPM secretary R Rajangam. Unfortunately, they earn very little as there are established vegetable vendors in the markets and streets already. “But it's better than to be without any income," said Rajangam.
Others are looking for small jobs in municipal markets. “There is a great rush for small jobs like helpers in vegetable and grocery shops in markets as income has dried up," says Venkatesan. But everyone cannot get such jobs, he says, adding that the government is yet to provide free rice to low income families like his.
Rajangam says the government should explore alternative jobs like MNREGA in urban areas so that people can sustain themselves. The CPM has decided to hold a demonstration on May 14 demanding a provision of Rs 7500 a month for three months to all those who do not pay income tax.