There is so much enthusiasm for Holi celebrations this year that the markets are facing a crisis of colours and gulal. Not only has the demand gone up but the prices are also up by almost 30%.
There may be a lot of buzz over playing Holi with organic colours, but organic or herbal gulal is still not affordable to a large section of people who would prefer the traditional gulal, said a wholesaler in Bhopal.
Large number of makeshift shops have come up in every nook and corner of the city markets. Even roadside shops have also mushroomed selling colours and pichkaris.
Saurabh Sahu, a colour wholesaler said, “There is a business of almost Rs 10 crore of colours, gulal and sprayers or pichkaris in the state capital.” Sahu said that this time the orders for Holi material were placed late because of uncertainties related to covid 19. By the time we placed orders, it was too late, he said adding, lots of gulal was damaged by the recent showers in the regions of Hathras where gulal is manufactured.
“As such, this year the orders were placed very late after the government announced celebrations of Holi and Rangpanchami,” he said.
He said that this time, “ all the price of Holi material is almost 30% higher than the previous year when a lot of lots was incurred by the traders as it was lock-down and colours were procured”.
Durgadayal, a colour seller in New Market said, “For the past few years, people have realized the importance of organic colours especially in upmarket residential areas of Bhopal. This may be costly but there is lot of demand for the same and looking into the enthusiasm we have procured enough”
A Hindu Utsav Samiti spokesman said that, “This time we will have a huge procession, both on the Holi and Rangpanchami.” He said that for the past two years, there were restrictions over festivities but this time the festival of colours would be celebrated with fervor.
Like always, there is a lot of buzz over eco-friendly Holi. Instead of traditional Holi by burning of fuel wood and cutting trees, the celebrations would be held by burning “ gaukasht” logs prepared by drying cow dung and giving it wooden log form
Satnarayan Bangad, a social worker involved in the production of Gaukasht said that this Holi there is a stock of more than 4,000 quintal of Gaukasht in Bhopal.
“This would save a lot of wood and cutting of trees and there will be less pollution”, he hoped .
Spokesman of Bhopal chambers of commerce and industry Ajay Devnani said, “after a long – long time, markets are full of positive sentiments. The traders use this period to plan the coming wedding and festive seasons which starts April onwards”.
He said, “ In Diwali, the overall market goes boom while in Holi it’s only the sweets and colour markets”.
