Hyderabad: The 81st All-India Industrial exhibition, or Numaish, was finally held after two long years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The yearly event is something that many vendors and businessmen across the country look forward to, however, an unexpected problem is causing problems for many of them— no internet.
Stall vendors, usually those who have been setting up stalls since many years- are now losing out on sales when customers don’t carry cash with them and cannot pay online as there’s no network in the area.
Speaking to the Siasat.com, Mrs. Raheema, owner of a jewellery stall said, “There’s no internet. I don’t know why, but since the one month that we’ve been here, no online payments are going through,” she continued, “many customers make purchases, get their order packed but leave empty handed only because they don’t have any network. We’re easily losing Rs 4000- 5000 per day,” she lamented.
Muzaffar Shah, a vendor in a Kashmiri jewels stall, said that network works once in a while. “You can get network in the afternoons for an hour or two, but once there’s enough people, network goes down.” Another vendor adds that the servers go down past 7pm, and complains that that’s exactly when most customers start piling in.
“I’ve been shopping for a few hours, and I’ve tried to make online payments, but it hasn’t worked. I’m lucky I’ve got some cash with me,” laughed a shopper, weighed down by bags full of rugs she’d just purchased.
Earlier this year, there was uncertainty surrounding the exhibition, as the society running it was accused of not getting the necessary permissions and having fire safety norms in place. A fire broke out in one of the stalls in 2019, resulting in a lot of material damage.
The 45-day-long exhibition started on February 25. Entry tickets are Rs. 30 per person. However, the entry of children below five years of age is free. About 700 stalls are operational this year, and it might end on the third week of April.
| Posted by Shreya Srikonda | 
