TIRUCHY: The makers of Manapparai Murukku are in for a meltdown despite Deepavali being a festival of snacks and sweets.
They say the demand for the eponymous snack has dropped by about 50 per cent since lockdown.
Manapparai , a town in Tiruchy district, has about 50 major units manufacturing the crunchy delight. It is exported to places across the country. The town has about 200 families involved in murukku making.
After the Covid pandemic and the lockdown played spoilsport, the manufacturers expected Deepavali to give a fillip to their business.
However, the demand for the murukku has not taken off as they expected. Not only the manufucturers, but all the linked businesses have also been affected. Many have been rendered jobless.
After incurring heavy losses during the lockdown period, many had shut down their units over the past couple of months.
Even though the units were reopened in a slower phase, the volume they make and the duration of work has significantly reduced in accordance with the drop in demand.
Manoharan, a manufacturer from Manapparai, said, “Deepavali is one of the major seasons for us in a year, and it usually keeps us on our toes to deliver the orders. This time, the buzz is not felt at all since nobody is showing up to make orders for murukku and athirasam (a sweet). Usually, in this season, our work begins in the early morning and goes on till 8 pm. Now, we call it a wrap by 5 pm itself. We are not manufacturing more as the sales have reduced by 50 per cent.”
According to Murugan, another manufacturer, “The government has not provided any assistance to make up for the losses, and banks are reluctant to give us loans."