Vijayawada: The Amaravati shopping festival has failed to draw the desired attention of denizens, or even vendors. All the three venues posed a deserted look on the second day of the festival. The government had touted it as a ‘mega event’ and hoped it would promote tourism as well as the new capital. It was announced that the Amaravati Shopping Festival will be held on the lines of the Dubai Shopping Festival every year from now on.
However, the authorities have failed to provide even basic requirements like toilets. Vendors who came from far-off places are facing problems at the venue. “We have to go to the bus station to use the toilet,” said Ch. Sai, a vendor from Rayavaram. Though the government announced that 2,000 stalls will be made available for the vendors to set shop, the number could reach only 418 at the three venues. As the price of the shops is fixed at '40,000, the ASF found few takers.
Krishna district collector Babu A. Said that all the shops were taken but the vendors still have to start functioning. Almost half of the shops at PWD ground were seen vacant and only about 20 per cent were filled at Punnami Ghat and Padmavati Ghat. “We never heard such exorbitant prices for the shops, said N. Shankar Rao, a Pondur cotton merchant. “We paid '25,000 for an expo at Taj Krishna. If the response from people continues like this, we will end losing money,” he added.
Ch. Sai, an employee of Rayavaram handloom cooperative society also expressed the same apprehension, saying, “If the number of visitors does not increase, we will not even recover our expenses. This is the first time we have paid so much for the shops.”
