The sales of stall owners dropped by 50 per cent in the past few hot months.
Shopkeepers and food stall owners in Bangalore’s food street in VV Puram are fuming at the loss of their day customers due to the heat.
Azad Kumar a dosa stall owner said that we are facing a lack of customers in the day. “Night sales are unaffected. People prefer to come more in the evening these days. In this unexpectedly hot weather people hardly go out to hang around or eat at stalls during the day. Therefore our day sales have dropped and we are facing losses as in an entire day, there are hardly six-seven customers visiting my stall. The number of customers used to be at least 50 a day.”
Darsh, another food shop worker said that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was renovating this street before the heatwave. “We faced a loss in business at that time due to road construction. Only a few months before the construction was completed. But now the weather is taking revenge as the footfall in the day has decreased drastically.”
The weather conditions in Bangalore are actually not unexpected. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) reports suggest that for the past 10 years, Bangalore has witnessed an average high temperature of 34.2 degrees Celsius. Bangalore’s maximum temperature has already surpassed the normal March average by a significant margin of 4°C.
According to the weather department every year the summers are becoming harsher and harsher in Bangalore.While global warming might be the underlying cause, other factors like the El Nino are playing a key role in higher mercury levels across southern India.
El Nino, which causes warmer-than-usual surface water temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean, disrupts global weather patterns, leading to extreme weather events like heatwaves and droughts.
Radhika, a college-going student who lives near the food street visited the food street around six p.m. She said, “Earlier, me, my friends or family used to come to the food street every Sunday. But now due to the hot weather, I hardly go out anymore. Today I was craving cheese dosa that’s why I decided to come in the evening. I last visited the food street in December. After that, due to this hot weather, I decided not to come.”
The iconic food street is 200 meters long consisting of 37 food stalls. It runs between Sajjan Rao Circle and RV Road.
