Hyderabad: Unlock decision brings joy to roadside eateries

Hyderabad: Lifting of lockdown completely in Telangana has brought cheers to the roadside eateries, especially those who do evening time businesses like snacks, panipuri, mirchi bandis etc as they gear up for their routine from Sunday. The roadside eateries, especially the evening snack makers, were the worst sufferers of the lockdown given the timing. The time between 6 pm to 11 pm is the ideal business time for these small businesses but they have been off the limits since May 12, the day from which lockdown was imposed in the State.

While the other businesses were functioning during the day, the evening snack makers were worst hit.

B Sharanappa, a native of Bidar who runs a panipuri bandi, was happy to hear about the lifting of lockdown. "There was literally no business for more than a month because of the odd timings. I roamed with my bandi, but still could not get any income. Now, I am hopeful that the business will pick up," said Sharnappa, who was seen busy cleaning his bandi to restart the business.

Another vendor, Sharada, a widow with two children, who sells Mirchi Bajji at Mallepally, thanked Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for his decision to lift the lockdown completely. She said that it was a difficult time because this was the only business for their livelihood. She said that their business time was between 5 pm to 11 pm and hoped that they would see customers from Sunday. Same is the case of Abdul Razzak, who runs a fish stall. He said that he opened his business after the lockdown was eased out till 5 pm but there was poor response. "Our timings are such that business starts after 5 pm. We thank KCR sir for keeping in mind small businesses like ours," said Razzak.