Businesses suffer in Puri as Covid-induced restrictions hit tourism hard

People involved in tourism-related businesses in Odisha's Puri are facing difficulties as the COVID-induced restrictions have hit their businesses hard.

They rued tourists are not visiting Puri in wake of the restrictions placed to arrest the spread of the infection.

A conch shell seller from the coastal city, Jainarayan, said: "Since there is no tourist coming these days, people selling portraits of gods, conches, materials used in Puja like mala, are facing a hard time due to this."

"We are in trouble. This is the time of the year when businesses happen. No help has come our way from the state government," he added.

Underlining the loss borne by the hospitality sector, Raj Kishore Das, Secretary, Puri Hotel and Restaurant Association, said: "Tourists will not come to Puri until Jagannath temple is closed and businesses will continue to suffer. Over 800 hotels in Puri are closed. We have suffered a loss of around Rs 500 crores during the second wave of COVID."

Another puja materials seller, Ganesh Rao, complained that their sources of livelihood have been destroyed as they were dependent on the tourists for their sale.

"My family is in big trouble, we were dependent on tourists but they are not coming these days. Earlier I used to earn Rs 2,000-3,000 daily but now we are making our ends meet by doing labour. The government is also not helping us.