Lockdown blues: Dealers, labourers at wit's end in Delhi's fan market

New Delhi [India], May 8 : Asia's largest wholesale market of fans, Basai Darapur located in West Delhi, is closed during the lockdown due to which dealers and labourers are at wit's end and are struggling to earn their daily bread and livelihood.
The dealers here also sell spare parts of the electrical device. The businessmen who have their shops in the market have strong reservations against decision of the Centre allowing opening of liquor shops but not permitting the fan shops to open despite the scorching summers.
"The government has allowed the sale of liquor but has banned the opening of the fan market which is essential for the middle-class people," said Satyaneshwar Tyagi, president of Basai Darapur Fan Market Manufacturers and Traders Association.
He said,"the labourers who were working in this market are finding it tough to sustain themselves as they have become jobless due to the closure of the shops. There are around 700 shops of fans in this market."
"The government must allow domestic industries to run. It has also not given any relief in the electricity bills and taxes. We have been stopped from opening the market. Some of the workers have not gone back home in the hope that the market would open in the near future," said Kishan Lal Narang, the general secretary of Basai Darapur Fan Market Manufacturers and Traders Association.
"For how long we can feed them? The specialty of this market is that the spare parts of the branded companies are also manufactured here. A person can buy a fan here at cost of Rs 300 to Rs 800," said Narang.
As the number of coronavirus cases continue to surge across the country, the Central Government has extended the lockdown till May 17.