THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Back-to-back hartals, a Sunday and another government holiday on Wednesday. Courtesy two hartals called by political parties, business establishments in the city, small and medium ones particularly, are finding themselves in the thick of a crisis. The business establishments in the city depend heavily on government employees, most of whom are ‘settlers’ from other districts. But consecutive holidays and hartals have prompted many of them to travel to their native places. “Usually, we do good business during weekends as families go for outings. But the holiday spree has prompted many of them to leave for their native places. We have to wait till Thursday for the business to gain momentum again,” says M P Ismail, proprietor of Buraq Restaurant at Vellayambalam. S Sivan, Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi Palayam vegetable market unit president, echoes the woe. Though banana shops in the market were open on Saturday, hartal day, few customers showed up. “People fear that if they step out of their homes on hartal days, they might land in trouble. We are ready to take a risk and open our shops. But if the customers fail to turn up, then the magnitude of the loss will increase further,” he said. Worst was the case of J Ramesh, a lottery vendor at Palayam. Due to the hartal he could only sell 14 Thiruvonam Bumper lottery tickets, each worth ` 200. “What can I do with the remaining 36 tickets? The government will not reimburse ` 7,200 by any means,” he lamented. Ramesh is still unsure how to repay the money that he availed as loan from a private bank. Barbers, perhaps, are the worst hit by the hartals. Listen to V Krishnan, a man in his sixties who runs a barber shop at Sasthamangalam. When he saw a man loitering outside the shop on Sunday he signaled him to enter for a shave. “Now or never,” he said with a smile on his face. Sensing the latter’s confusion, he pointed to a reminder pasted on the wall which said Tuesday was a holiday for barbers. “Saturday gone. Sunday with not much heads. Monday a hartal. Tuesday our weekly holiday. Wednesday another holiday (Sree Narayana Guru Samadhi). This happens only in India,” he said, which resembled more like a hartal day slogan.
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