Uttarayan amid Covid, curfew leaves Surat kite merchants in lurch

The Uttarayan competition is only some days forward, however kite producers and merchants in Surat say that the enterprise has been badly hit as a result of Covid-19 pandemic and the night time curfew.
The final two nights earlier than the kite flying competition, celebrated on January 14, see kite auctions in varied components of town together with Dabgarwad, Bhagal, Randera and Kotsafil street. The auctions which begin from round 9 pm was once held until 4 am.
But the low footfall as a result of pandemic and the imposition of night time curfew have compelled most of kite producers to put off the public sale.
“Apart from retail sales, we auction kites during the night. But with the curfew in place, it is difficult for us to keep our shops open late in the night,” says Naresh Chhatriwala, who runs his household enterprise of promoting kites and threads at Dabgarwad.

Some of the kite merchants have determined to start out public sale from 8 pm onwards.
“We had earlier planned to make representations to the police commissioner to extend the night curfew limit, but we felt that it won’t be of help. So we have decided to organize a kite auction from 8 pm to 10 pm,” Naresh, 50, provides.
For the kite producers, Uttarayan is the time after they have the utmost gross sales.
“Our business is seasonal. In November and December we could not do even 50 per cent of sales.”
Another kite dealer Chandresh Patel, who runs a store at Kotsafil street in Surat, says, “This year we have kept limited stock in our shops and not invested more money in purchasing kites, due to the pandemic. The prices of kites and threads have also come down, but there is not much footfall. Today we only had five five customers for the whole day and did business of Rs 200.”
Patel additionally says that the night time curfew has affected their enterprise.
“People who are working come to our shops during the night to purchase kites. Due to the curfew timings, they are also not coming,” he says.
“We supply kites to shopkeepers in Navsari, Valsad and Bharuch, but this year we haven’t got much orders from them. They have asked only for limited stock. Last year we did good business, and we kept our shops open till 4.00 am,” Patel says including that civic physique officers have requested them to observe Covid-19 protocol whereas promoting.
“We made arrangements like keeping sanitizer bottles at our shops but the customers are not coming,” Patel says.
Aziz Shaikh, a serious kite producer of Rander, says, “We have been making kite starting from 5 feet to 9 feet in size. Last year, we sold kites of size 5 feet for Rs. 200 and this year we have reduced it to Rs 150. Similarly 9-feet kite priced at Rs 1000 per piece last year, is being sold for Rs 900. This year many kite manufacturers in our mohalla had also not made kites due to the pandemic.”
Aziz is hopeful that the demand could enhance and extra prospects will flip up.