E-Paper
Escaped Covid-19, but fell prey to financial losses, mental health crisis
Since Covid outbreak, there have been thousands of cases in Pune where individuals and families escaped coronavirus only to fall prey to financial ruin in the form of job losses and mental health issues
PUNE In the last two years of the pandemic, there have been thousands of cases in Pune where individuals and entire families escaped coronavirus only to fall prey to financial ruin in the form of job losses or heavy losses in business. This was especially true during the first lockdown implemented on March 22, 2020.
One such case is that of Amit Shinde who has had a tough two years financially, though he and his family were not infected by Covid-19. Shinde, who is the owner of a barbershop in the Sadashiv peth, is struggling to streamline his business. “Initially for four months, there was a strict lockdown and later when restrictions were eased only then barbershops were allowed to open. Then again the second state-wide lockdown was imposed last year, and people don’t come to saloons out of fear of getting infected. We have still not been able to reach 50% of the business that existed prior to the pandemic,” Shinde said.
“Neither me nor my family members ever tested positive in the past two years but it was a tough situation to survive. Even now, people come for haircuts or other services only when it is necessary or once in two months or so. We are getting some business from weddings and other small functions but for the rest, there is no business and earnings,” he said.
Then there is Dhananjay Mate who was working in a private electric company but lost his job during the pandemic and is now working on his own. “When the lockdown started, all of us employees were at home and for four months, we did not get salaries and when I tried to resume duties in June 2020, I was told I had been laid off. This came as a shock, as I am the sole bread winner in my family. I have a family of four, and we were already struggling during the lockdown. Despite staying in the densely populated Guruwar peth area, no one from our family was infected in the last two years,” said Mate.
“Subsequently, I decided to start my own small service-oriented business of a household electrician but people are now calling only when there is an emergency. Earlier, people used to give orders for decorative electric works and interior decoration lights, but it has gone down drastically,” he said.
Meanwhile, Umesh Chavan, who owns a book and stationery shop in the Karvenagar, said, “We have a big family of eight people with my wife, our two daughters, my father and brothers. We took all the necessary precautions and so none of us were infected by Covid. But one fear was always there, about the financial loss due to the two lockdowns that were imposed. It has taken our business back by two to three years as schools and colleges were conducting online classes and students were not purchasing stationery in the quantity they earlier did. Everything being online, there was a major impact on our business which went down by 40% in the last two years. Now when schools and colleges have reopened, it is slowly growing again,” Chavan said.
In the case of Vidya Mantri, 29, a working professional from Yerawada, she was laid off due to cost-cutting. “I was working in a private finance company and till March 2021, things were going fine, but as the company had to bear losses due to the first lockdown, I and three other employees were fired from our jobs. This was the worst situation in my life, as we have taken a loan for our new home and both my husband and I am paying EMIs so it impacted our monthly budget drastically. Both of us escaped the Covid infection and were physically healthy but due to the financial burden, there is a lot of mental stress as I have still not been able to get another job,” Mantri said.
