New Delhi: As the situation has started to deteriorate again with Delhi marking records on a daily basis of the biggest single-day spike in Covid cases, the markets of Delhi have started to suffer yet again. After almost an year long fight against coronavirus, the situation seemed a bit under control, but the recent records suggest the need of social distancing and other Covid precautions like not stepping out to be taken seriously again.
The always buzzing market of Chandni Chowk in Delhi couldn’t spare itself from the devastating claws of coronavirus. Chandni Chowk is well known for its lehenga market and as CitySpidey went to the lanes of Delhi 6, they looked less crowded than before. The footfall has dropped by a significant percentage which can be concluded just by having a look at the lanes.
As CitySpidey talked to the owner of a lehenga store on the main lane in front of Red Fort, he said “The market dropped significantly when coronavirus first hit everyone. Earlier we used to have customers from all around the country and now even the local customers hesitate to visit. However, we managed to retain some customer percentage but now because the situation is worsening again, we’re afraid that we’ll lose some business yet again.”
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The shops in the inner lanes and ‘galiyan’ had their own issues. According to the owner of a lehenga store in the inner lanes of Naya Katra, the business of stores in inner lanes is down because people who come out of their homes in Covid prefer going to the showrooms on the main lane and now that Covid is coming back, they might lose their customer base further.
However, when asked about the effects of night curfew on the market, shopkeepers were of the view that the market anyways goes down by 9-9:30 pm, so this new curfew hasn’t affected the market as much.
The shops are following basic precautions of using sanitisers and keeping masks on but not everyone religiously follows it and street vendors can’t afford things like sanitiser on a daily basis, thus it is important to be extra careful while visiting Chandni Chowk.
