Scare of contraction ‘eats’ into street vendors’ business

Attributing the cause to the restrictions imposed in public spots in view of the novel coronavirus scare, the vendors also complained that the people keep off their food products over rumours that they would contract the infection from such items sold on the streets.

E Mariyamma, a vendor in Royapuram, said, “There has been no sale for the past one week as the streets are getting deserted by the day. I am unable to sell even a few bundles of spinach a day, and most of it is being thrown away. The greens cannot be stocked until the next day as it will get spoilt.”

“Earlier, I used to earn around Rs 300 to Rs 500 per day, but now earning Rs 200 has become difficult. I am surviving with this income as there is nobody to look after me. If there is no income, there is no choice left but to starve. People are scared to purchase things from us because they assume that if they consume items sold on the roadside, they might get infected with COVID-19,” Mariyamma rued.

K Krishnan, a seller of watermelons in Tondiarpet, notes that he has not seen such loss in his business in the past 40 years. As there are hardly any buyers, he now worries that his investment of nearly a lakh rupees will come to nought.

“People listen to rumours spreading on social media that if they eat watermelons, they will contract fever and cold. Even the wholesalers are not willing to purchase. If these watermelons are not sold within the next two weeks, I would have no choice but to dump everything into garbage bins,” Krishnan said.

Seeing a normal daily revenue of around Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000, Krishnan shared that it became hard for him to earn even Rs 200 over the past few days. “With the income, I must pay shop and house rent. My family is dependent on this income for food and other expenses. If this situation continues for another month, we will be forced to beg for money for survival,” he added.

Vendors at Marina beach also portray no rosy picture as they point to the government’s restrictions to the public in place at the spot eating into their only source of income. A 60-year-old vendor there said, “I hardly earn Rs 100 per day but as there is minimal turnout at the beach, I earn only Rs 20 to Rs 30 and this money gets spent on my travel, leaving me literally earning nothing at the end of the day. I so return home without any money and already we are surviving only on one meal since the past two days.”

A few small scale traders, however, mention of their normal life not getting hit as they have their regular customers making up for any loss of income. “As this is a residential area, we do not have any problems in the business. If the government takes steps to shut shops, then we might be affected,” said Mathivanan U, running a millet shop in Tiruvottiyur.