Paneer Wala struggles to stay afloat

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 9

On a usual day, there is hustle and bustle in the famous Heera Paneer wala shop located in the prime location of Novelty Chowk. People relish his dishes such as ‘paneer bhurji’ with bread and ‘paneer pakora’.

But now, he is struggling to remain afloat in the current scenario after relaxation in curfew and imposition of lockdown in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Undoubtedly, the pandemic has hit the traders and shopkeepers very hard, the eatery joints are the worst affected, pointed out Heera Singh, owner of the shop.

“Though shops are open now and people have been visiting as per their need, dining is yet to take off at the eatery joints,” he said. People, now, prefer home-cooked food, rather than going out for dining.

In order to thrive, we have now started take away services and therefore packaging orders for customers, he adds.

“I am 56 now, and have to start from the scratch. For years, I run my business from a kiosk and it was only five years ago that I got a shop at a prime location at the Nehru Shopping Complex on Novelty Chowk. People showered their love and my business started flourishing. However, these two months of curfew have brought us to our knees and our earnings have dwindled,” he said.

However, today, the competition is hard as more eatery joints have come up in the vicinity, he pointed out.

His two sons have been helping him in the business and he has been hoping these times to get over soon.

The global health crisis has also brought new challenges to us especially in maintaining hygiene. People have become more health conscious and therefore maintaining hygiene is a must to survive these times. “Though, we cannot wear gloves all the time, we regularly wash our hands,” he said.

Whenever the dining is allowed, we have also been planning to ensure social distancing near the shop.