Earthen pots sale picking up

  Kapra: With the summer setting in and the heat catching up the denizens, the sale of earthen pots has been picking up at Radhika Junction, Kamala Nagar and Kapra Municipal Office under Kapra Circle limits. The poor and middle-class people, who can’t afford refrigerators, preferred to purchase the pots. As the summer arrived early this year, the rate of each small pot has also increased from Rs 20 to Rs 50, the buyers lamented. Some of the purchasers opined that drinking water from earthen pots is good for one’s health. Apart from the pots, sale of other items such as water bottles and utensils made of clay has also increased. The potters, who earn livelihood from the traditional caste-based profession, reasoned behind the hike, saying as there is no encouragement from the government in the form of subsidy to purchase machinery to manufacture clay items, most of them in their community has been leaving the profession and settled in private jobs for their livelihood. The potters said that as they were purchasing items from other places, they were forced to increase the rates. They said that if the government came forward to help them, they would manufacture the items on their own. Thus, there was a chance to decrease rates, the potters hoped.  Also, as it is a seasonal business, they have only this summer season to earn enough so that they can sustain other months. But, as they are unable to sustain, they look for other avenues to earn money or migrate to other states.