Ahmedabad: Ganesha Chaturthi, Mumbai's most eagerly-awaited festival, is barely five days away. Through the 10-day celebrations, lakhs of followers pour into Ganpati Mandals everyday, this year, as swine flu may play spoiler, already makers of Ganesha statues in Ahmedabad are suffering.
Nobody's taking home the Ganesha idols of Gulbai Tekda.
"There is a huge drop in demand from our clients in Pune and Mumbai due to the swine flu scare. This has ruined us as we earn our livelihood for the whole year by selling idols before Ganeshotsav," said Jalabhai Markani, head of Gulbai Tekda Artisans' Association.
"The idols are coming cheap, even the big ones, but we want to keep the festival low key this time," said Hansmukh Patel, organiser of Ganpati Mandal.
The 5,000 artisans are now stuck with 50,000 idols. To make these, most artisans borrowed money and desperation has taken over.
"The idols which fetched Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 last year, are selling for Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. It's a huge loss because the cost of making idols have gone up a lot," said Morabhai Rathore, an artisan.
The artisans of Gulbai Tekda in Ahmedabad are under tremendous financial pressure. The recession is bad enough, and now swine flu has literally killed business. Their Ganesha idols will have to wait another year before they find space in Maharashtra's pandals.