Even though people have been talking about vocal for local campaign to support the local businesses for months, most of the earthen Diya makers and sellers in Dehradun state that their business is 50 percent down this Diwali than last year. According to a local seller in Dharmpur, Himanshu Bohra, he has been selling Diyas during Deepawali for the last eight years but this is the year when he faced the maximum loss.
“Every year I buy about four quintals of Diyas, most of which used to get sold before Dhanteras. This time, I bought only one quintal Diyas due to financial restraints and still more than 70 per cent of Diyas remain to be sold,” said Bohra. A Diya seller from Hanuman Chowk, Chaman Lal Prajapati also stated that sales are less than 50 per cent this year and in addition to this, the customers are bargaining more too. “We never used to get time to even have lunch on time due to sales during Deepawali till the previous year but people are not buying Diyas much this year. I am selling two Diyas for Rs five and still, people are asking me to give four Diyas. I did sell Diyas at the rate of four Diyas for Rs five to some customers who bought over 50 Diyas as I know most of the people do not buy Diyas after Dhanteras,” said Prajapati. Another Diya seller, Gabbulal Prajapati said that he is selling most of his Diyas at loss. “My family also sells Diyas in Kumhar Mandi as we made Diyas during the lockdown hoping that the sale will be better this year. I came to this area thinking this area remains crowded so chances of selling Diyas and other products will be more here but the situation is not much different here than the other areas. I am selling small Diyas for Rs three each. Some of those customers who did not budge and kept insisting on buying three Diyas for Rs three, I sold them Diyas at the same rate because I have small kids to take care of and something is better than nothing in this pandemic,” said Prajapati.
It is pertinent to mention here that due to varied factors, people appear to prefer light strings more than Diyas. The State government too has promoted LED light strings made by self help groups.
Friday, 13 November 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
