Jharkhand: Weekend lockdown spoils non-veg items’ stock, vendors rue losses

JAMSHEDPUR: The 38-hour-long weekend lockdown clamped has spoilt a large volume of stocks of non-vegetarian items like chicken, mutton and fish, many vendors here rued on Sunday. They, however, appreciated the government for enforcing the lockdown to curb the Covid-19 infection and hoped to do brisk business from this week.
Raj Kumar, who owns a broiler chicken shop in Kadma market and sells over 300kg on Sundays, said, "The purpose of the complete lockdown was to prevent further spread of the virus and we need to honour and accept it. I am hoping to make up the loss this week."
Similarly, mutton shop vendor Rakesh Kumar said the volume of sales on weekends is more in comparison with weekdays. "Sundays being a holiday for the working families, many prefer to prepare non-veg items and my business picks up to nearly double on these days," he said.
Fish vendor Chandan Ghosh said small traders like him sell about 50 kg of fish on Sunday alone. He added that a Bistupur wholesaler who ordered four fish-laden trucks is yet to unload the stock.
Meanwhile, some fruit vendors allegedly tried to create a ruckus in the Bistupur fruit market opposing the weekend lockdown but Bistupur police station officer-in-charge, Vishnu Rout, denied any such incident.
Some vendors and shopkeepers also tried to open their shops in the early hours but police shut them down.
The top brass of the police and civil administration was seen enforcing the lockdown. All officials at checkpoints also actively examined e-passes of people who are out on the streets.