BENGALURU: It has been a year of ruin for vendors of K R Market -- Asia’s biggest market -- which has been closed for 238 days, ever since the first lockdown was announced in March 2020. The closure, coupled with repair work undertaken by BBMP, has heaped misery on wholesale merchants and streetside vendors. The worst-hit is the flower grower and vendor -- with marriages and functions on hold, and festivals going low-key, no one buys flowers.
The imminent lifting of the lockdown is not likely to bring any relief either, as KR Market is not expected to open soon, and BBMP is yet to complete work.KR Market was shut along with other commercial activities, as per guidelines issued by the ministry of home affairs, last year. In all, the market was closed for 159 days in 2020, and 79 days so far this year.
President of KR Market Vendors’ Association Diwakar told TNIE that there are over 2,200 vendors in KR Market, who sell fruits, vegetables, flowers, greens and puja items, besides other essentials. Of them, more than 300 vendors supply flowers wholesale to street vendors, and make garlands for weddings and other occasions. They have been given space to work from 6am to10 am at Bamboo Bazaar, which is near KR Market.
Diwakar, who has been in the flower business for 16 years, said they get flowers from Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Anekal, Malur, Doddaballapura, Ramanagara and other places. “We used to get more than 100 trucks of flowers, but it’s reduced to 20-25 trucks now. Each truck carries 800 to 1,200 kg of flowers,” he said. “Flower business is down during off-season, but in the past year, business has been low even during the festival and wedding season,” said Mahesh, a flower vendor. “People buy vegetables and fruits, but not flowers during the pandemic. We are allowed to work between 6am and 10am, but we cannot even keep flowers overnight and sell them.”
Bengaluru has more than 20,000 street hawkers and pushcart vendors. The government has promised Rs 2,000 to these vendors, but the amount is barely enough for them to sustain. Floriculturists, too, are in acute distress. The government is to pay farmers Rs 10,000 per hectare (2.5 acres), while they would have spent Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh per acre. Srinivasappa, a flower vendor from Hosakote, said May is the peak season to make money..