Surat: Uttarayan festival to fly low this Covid-laced year, sagging spirits across the state. With Covid guidelines crushing enthusiasm among revellers and cutting kite strings short in rooftops, housing societies too have towed the government line in adhering to rules to contain spread of the contagion.
“Covid-19 has snatched away the charm of the festival,” rued Ashish Maisuriya, a jeweller in Adajan. And he isn’t alone. This is an unequivocal sentiment soaring across rooftops.
Traditional kite markets everywhere — be it Bhagal and Rander in Surat, or Mandvi-Gendigate road in Vadodara or Sadar Bazar in Rajkot — have failed to take off even on the eve of the festival. Compared to previous years, kite and manja business in Surat city has plummeted by almost 45%.
Imtiyas Patangwala, a kite maker in Rander said, “We are the fifth generation of kite makers in Rander. This is first time that our business is bleeding, literally. There are no buyers. I have hardly sold Rs 50,000 worth of kites in the last fortnight. Last year during this time, I had done business to the tune of Rs 3 lakh”
City police commissioner Ajay Kumar Tomar issued a public notification on Tuesday announcing prohibitory orders related to Uttarayan celebrations including assemblage of four or more persons in public places from January 14 to 28.