This year, newspaper vendors in the city will not probably have enough savings to spend on emergencies or wedding gifts and will have to tone down their Ayudha Puja celebrations, a grand event for them.
For, the Tamil Nadu Newspaper Vendors Association in Mylapore, West Mambalam and M.G.R. Nagar covering around 220 vendors has spent it all on COVID-19 relief for its members.
“These are difficult times when we have lost access to the entire apartment complexes or streets due to one positive case. There are a few cases where offices are closed and we cannot deliver and hence collections are down,” said D. Prakash, a vendor in M.G.R. Nagar. He, along with the office-bearers of the M.G.R. Nagar unit, have distributed home needs to 50 of their vendor association members.
At Mylapore, association office-bearers consisting of Nachiappan, Sundaram and Dillibabu gave away cash of ₹1,500 to each of 150 members, who include shopkeepers selling newspapers.
The West Mambalam unit gave away provisions worth ₹1,500 to 60 members.
Boys to be felicitated
S. Murugan, an office-bearer, said that they plan to give a small incentive to delivery boys.
“Since they are the ones who reach newspapers to homes, we will honour them shortly, ” he said.
