5,000 band artists lose livelihood in Rohtak amid lockdown

Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, June 1 

Out of respect for his profession, Satish Kirar, owner of Indraj Band, along with his younger brothers—Bhim Sen and Arjun—used to start the morning by playing the drums and other musical instruments at his shop in Quilla Road Market. Like much else, this gesture has taken a back seat amid the lockdown.

Now, his mornings are spent placing fruits and vegetables on ‘rehris’ for his younger brothers outside the shop. They are now arranging two square meals by selling fruits and vegetables.

Satish had employed 22 people. All of them are now working either as labourers or street vendors after losing the job.

More than 5,000 band artists and others associated with them have become jobless in the district as their livelihood has been severely affected due to lockdown restrictions, said Rohtak Band Union president Ramesh.

“The situation has become so worse that many of the band owners have vacated the shops as they are unable to pay rent while several others are seriously mulling over doing other work by quitting their ancestral profession as they predict that the circumstances will take a long time to become normal,” he said.

Ramesh said around 60 bookings of weddings, religious ceremony and retirement functions were cancelled during the lockdown while he had received Rs 5,000 per booking in advance from the parties. Many of them were now mounting pressure on him to return it but he had spent the money in paying salary to his 40 employees, he said.

Raju, owner of New Laxmi Band, and Jai Karan of Jai Laxmi Band have vacated their shops after finding themselves unable to pay the rent. Now, they are searching for new jobs to earn money to feed their family. Similarly, Rajesh Kirar, owner of Hariom Band, has made up his mind to quit the profession. Kirar maintained he was finding himself unable to come to terms with the losses. The situation had forced him to borrow money from relatives to make both ends meet.

“We were giving training to our fourth generation about playing these instruments and singing so that they could follow the ancestral profession but the lockdown forced us to shelve the plan. Children are now being encouraged to pursue higher education to make future secure,” said Satish whose grandfather introduced Indraj Band over six decades ago.