Power disruption raises candle sales in city

Shops in the city experienced Saturday unusual rush of customers seeking candles due to the worst ever power blackout in the country.
The sale of candles increased manifold on the day, the shop owners and sales persons said. Many prospective buyers could not purchase candles as per their demand, they said adding that the sellers also failed to supply adequate number of candles due to shortage of stock.  
"Our usual daily candle sale is 1-7 pieces which has gone up to 400 pieces Saturday due to power blackout," Md Azad, a grocer at Hatirpool Bazaar said.
Other grocers of the Bazaar said, "The stock of candles at our shop exhausted before evening. Many city dwellers could not buy any candle due to shortage of the item."
Mariom Begum, a dweller of Central Road, Dhanmondi said: "I luckily got one piece of candle but the price of it was three times more than its actual price. I bought the candle at Tk 15 although the actual price is only Tk 5."
The FE correspondent visited Shantinagar Kitchen Market, AGB Colony Kitchen Market and Fakirapool Kitchen Market in Motijheel area, Hatirpool Bazar, wholesale markets like Karwan Bazar and Shyambazar.
Faruq Mia, a grocer of Shantinagar said "a good number of candles were sold Saturday. The customers took 3 to 6 pieces of candles each from my shop in the evening. Usually, we sell 5 to 10 pieces of candles every day. Whereas we sold 700 pieces of candles within six hours," he added.
The same scenario was noticed in other markets in the city on the day.

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