Coffee, tea vendors at rly station face bleak prospects

Ludhiana: After cancellation of all long route trains for the next one month in view of the rising number of Covid-19 cases, tea stall owners at the station face uncertainty. Already, they had been struggling to make ends meet selling tea and coffee among passengers as business had been severely hit.
With survival becoming increasingly difficult, several tea stall owners have taken to selling vegetables and fruits on city roads. Local vendors have urged railway authorities not to charge any rental fee from vendors who have not earned anything and are reeling under financial crises.
Fifteen vendors had been serving tea and coffee to 80,000 to 90,000 passengers during peak season when over 100 long route trains pulled in. However, after the Covid-19 outbreak, railways decided to cancel all trains. Most of the owners did not open their stalls and tried to earn money by other means like selling vegetables or working in grocery stores for home delivery.
Tea stall owner Ashok Gupta, who has been working at the city station for the last 30 years said, “I have been working as an authorised tea stall owner at the city station for the past three decades but I have never witnessed such a massive downslide in business. After losing all savings in the past four months, most tea stall owners have decided to switch to selling fruits and vegetables.”
New norms have also dented tea sellers’ business. “ For almost eight days, authorised tea and food stall owners have not earned a penny. After a few trains began plying, railways introduced new terms and conditions for local food stall owners. We could not serve unpacked food and could only offer takeaways. Because of this, our business came to a standstill. We have decided not to open stalls for next several days till the situation comes back to normal,” a tea stall owner said.
According to Rajesh Kumar, another tea stall owner, “There is a sense of fear among passengers who are totally ignoring food stalls.”