Florists want a permanent market

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Oct 31: The florists of Phool Gali, Fancy Bazar continue to demand a permanent market for them.

Speaking to this reporter, Rajaram Malakar, a florist of Phool Gali, said, “I’ve been running this business for the past 45 years. The demand of flowers has increased in the city. During wedding season I need to bring more than 10 lakh flowers from various places like Shillong, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. As our business is of tural flowers, and we don’t have any market to keep flowers fresh for more time. We have to suffer huge loss.”

“Taking the huge demand of tural flowers into consideration, we expect the government to make a permanent market available for us with facility to keep the flowers fresh for a longer period,” Malakar added.

However, Krishno Kanta Kalita, another florist of Phool Gali, said, “We’ve around 35 flower shops in this market and we meet demands of all occasions like marriage parties and funerals. I’ve been doing this business for the last five years but have seen no development of this market since then.”

Kalita further said that even in off-season they get the requirement of more than one lakh flowers every day. Sometimes the requirement is not fulfilled and they have to suffer huge losses as the market’s facility to keep flowers is too poor.

It has also been said that the florists’ association has also given a memorandum to the government regarding their demand, but to no avail.