‘Items flew off the shelves after PM address’, says grocer from Delhi

Agarwal, who lives in a joint family in New Kondli — barely a kilometre away from his shop — opens his Ravi General Store every day at 9 am.

As an entire country locks itself indoors for 21 days to beat the spread of Covid-19, one man has been working tirelessly — for sometimes as long as 13 hours a day — for the past two weeks.

Sajjan Kumar Agarwal owns a grocery store in east Delhi’s Vasundhara Enclave. (HT photos)

Sajjan Kumar Agarwal, a 50-year-old grocery store owner in east Delhi’s Vasundhara Enclave, says he has never seen a panic like this among customers before. “At our store, the madness begun on March 22 when the Delhi government announced a lockdown. I did double my normal sales that night. The customers said that since the restaurants were also shut, they needed more food supply. But the situation went out of control after the 21-day lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

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Agarwal said that there was a huge rush at his shop immediately after the announcement. “That night, I sold thrice of what i usually do. People were buying as if they will never get a chance again. By the weekend, my stocks had been completely wiped out,” he said, adding that he and his staff could not even take a lunch break for at least five days.

Agarwal, who lives in a joint family in New Kondli — barely a kilometre away from his shop — opens his Ravi General Store every day at 9 am. Immediately after reaching the store, he instructs his employees to tie a rope around the shop to ensure that social distancing norms with customers are followed. He has distributed masks and hand gloves to his employees and has also kept a bottle of hand sanitiser on the counter for them to use.

“I have stopped home delivery. We normally have 10 boys working at the store for home delivery but now only four are reporting to work. We only deliver for elderly people now, that too only till the main gate of the residential societies. I am responsible for their safety as well. We also maintain social distance from each other at work. Half of my day goes in telling customers to maintain a social distance and stand in the circles that we have drawn outside the store,” he said.

Around 2:30 pm, some disgruntled customers were spotted returning from Agarwal’s store. “We have to send back many customers daily because we are out of stock for many items, including ready to eat items, flour and packed foods like biscuits, chips and Maggi. It’s disheartening to say no to anyone, but we are having trouble in getting supplies these days. The distributors are not being able to transport goods as per our requirements. They do not have enough manpower,” he said.

By 4pm, a truck carrying packed drinking water bottles arrives at the store. “We are not receiving Bisleri water daily. Now I’ll call some customers who I had turned back earlier in the day,” says Agarwal, with a smile on his face.

While his employees wrap up the work by 9pm and leave for home, Agarwal stays back for another half an hour to ensure that none of his customers is left behind. By 9:45 pm he is home. “I wash my hands before entering the house and take a shower immediately. I interact with hundreds of people every day. I have to take a lot of precautions to keep my family safe. I have my old mother at home,” he said.

When asked if he does not feel like staying at home like others , he said, “It’s a privilege to be there for the people. If we stop working what will they eat? I will continue working no matter what. The doors of my store will remain open for all my customers,” he said.