Lockdown hits shops, businesses hard in Madikeri

The Covid-19 lockdown has brought various businesses to the verge of closure. Owners of grocery shops, cloth merchants, jewellery makers and footwear vendors say that their business has come down drastically.

Cloth merchant Pramod said, "There is no question of profit. But, we into this cloth business and it has given us the daily bread and butter.

Generally, the monsoon enters the district in the first week of June. The period between March and May is the season of auspicious occasions, such as weddings. "Now, all such functions are either postponed or being held in a low key manner. This has hardly hit the business of tailors. We have no work in hand", B S Navin, a tailor on Kohinoor Road in Madikeri, said.

As the price of gold has increased rapidly, the customers have not been showing interest in the purchase of golden jewellery. They have decreased their budget and only 100 grams is being purchased in the place of 200 grams of gold, owner of a jewellery shop said.

The sale of electric and electronic appliances has come down.

Shankar, an agriculturist from Koodige, said that the flow of money has thinned down to a great extent. Coffee rates have increased, but it is not available sufficiently, he added.

As all types of tourism activities have come to a halt in the district from the last three months, no revenue generated from tourism so far.

Time relaxation for shops

Shops are allowed to open between 7 am and 7 pm, from Monday to Saturday. Earlier, the closing time was at 5 pm.

Liquor shops, except those within a distance of 5 km from the inter-state borders, can be opened between 9 am and 7 pm, from Monday to Saturday.

All commercial activities, excluding the emergency services, will be prohibited on Sundays from 7 am to 7 pm, under Section 144, Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy said. The lockdown applies to the movement of the public as well.