Residents across Madurai bought fruits, flowers and Ganesha idols on Friday, a day ahead of Vinayaka Chaturthi celebration.
Due to closure of flower market at Mattuthavani owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers sold flowers in various parts of the city, including Race Course Road, Surveyor Colony and Arapalayam bus stand, said S. Ramachandran, president of a flower vendors’ association. He said the prices of flowers had risen on Friday ahead of Vinayaka Chaturthi celebration. A kilogram of jasmine was sold for ₹700, ‘sampangi’ for ₹300, ‘arali’ for ₹300 and button rose for ₹300.
“Most of the flowers saw a good increase in prices, especially ‘sampangi’ had a 10-fold rise, on Friday,” he said.
M. Nadandi, a farmer from Nilakottai, who sold flowers at Surveyor Colony, said after a gap of over four months since the outbreak of COVID-19, flowers being sold for a good price.
A large number of residents also bought fruits from makeshift shops at Yanaikkal and across the city. V.P. Manikandan, a resident of S.S. Colony, said the usual excitement ahead of Vinayaka Chathurthi was missing. “It is evident that many people are still struggling to recover from the financial loss caused due to the pandemic,” he said.
Sales of Ganesha idols is lower than expected, said Meena Kumari, who belongs to the artisan families residing on 120-Foot Road connecting Mattuthavani with Surveyor Colony. “Out of 1,000 small-sized Ganesha idols that my family made, only 300 have been sold till Friday evening. We have to sell these idols to repay moneylenders. We hope more idols are sold on Saturday,” she said.