Wednesday seemed to be the day when the city seemed to be in and around Dadar flower market. Chock-a-block with traffic, it was a harrowing experience for commuters as devotees made most of the last day shopping for Dussehra on Wednesday.
“On any given day this stretch is congested, but not half as bad as it was yesterday. It took me nearly two hours, double the time as compared to any given day, for me to reach here from Mahim,” said Nisar Ahmed as his tempo managed to cross the flyover adjacent to Dadar flower market.
It was not just Ahmed. Serpentine queues with cars stopping in the middle of the road to quickly buy some flowers made the traffic worse. “It took nearly half an hour to just turn around from the Dadar flyover bridge,” said Mazhar Merchant another commuter in a tempo.
However, all of it was worth it for some. Vidulata Pujari was one such buyer who had come barefoot to buy flowers and other decoration materials. “During Navratri, I do not wear footwear and fast for nine days. I went to Dadar to buy flowers and other decoration materials for the festivities,” said Vidulata who had already spent over Rs 4,500 for her purchases.
However, consumers have started experiencing higher flower prices. “There’s a price hike within 2 days. The sellers are demanding double the price for most of the items,” said Prashant Dekate who too had come to buy flowers. The all-time jam-packed and noisy market of Dadar, has doubled the prices of yellow and orange marigold, aster, sevanthi and rose.
“It is like how it used to be every time. Price of sevanthi is Rs 120 per kg while that of gonda is Rs 80 per kg,” said Basu Raj, owner of King Rose Dealers, a flower shop.
Lotus, mango leaves, wheat plant, banana leaves and other decoratives that are commonly used for the festival also cost twice than what they did a day or two before.
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 "Dadar flower market")
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