Surat tent fabric suppliers face hardships due to COVID restrictions

Surat (Gujarat) [India], September 2 : Tent fabric suppliers in Surat are facing financial hardships due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The city, which is famous for its textiles, has at least 300 businessmen associated with the tent fabric business.
The coronavirus pandemic has left these businesses around the city cutting costs. Wedding material providers are the worst affected.
Before the pandemic, these businessmen had prepared for the wedding season beginning in April, but with the commencement of the COVID-19 lockdown, they are incurring huge losses.
Speaking to ANI, Dev Sancheti, president of Surat Mandap Decorators Association said, "There are at least 300 such businessmen in Surat and all are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic."
"We had prepared the fabric for the upcoming weddings, beginning in April. But now it is of no use as not many weddings and other functions are happening due to fear of the virus," said Sancheti.
"We did not even receive payments as the material came back to us," Sancheti added.
On being asked about the solution to their problems, Sancheti said, "Until and unless the government takes a decision to increase the wedding guests to 300-400, our business will remain the same."
As of now, the industry has suffered a loss of Rs 300 crores, Sancheti said.
Avinash Patil, a businessman said, "We are bearing huge losses due to this situation. We took loan for our businesses but now we are scared that we would not be able to repay it."
"Earlier, we had urged the commissioner to permit at least 300-400 guests to attend any event but we were disappointed that the government has not permitted even half of what we had asked for," Patil said.