With few takers, sales of the national flag have witnessed a sharp dip in Assam's Guwahati ahead of the 75th Independence Day celebrations.
The sales have been dropped by 80 per cent this year due to the ongoing COVID pandemic.
The schools and colleges being still closed have also impacted the sale of the products related to Independence Day celebrations.
Speaking to ANI, Baby Kalita, a shop owner said: "Till now there is no sale of national flags or things related to the Independence Day. It is very less compared to the previous year."
"We have not got any orders from the offices and other institutes. The COVID has affected the sales by 80 per cent this year due," Kalita said.
A local Ranjay Datta said that the COVID is still there so people should celebrate Independence Day following the COVID protocols and guidelines.
"We hoist a national flag at our housing society but this year we are not planning something grand. We will be celebrating following the social distance," Datta told ANI.
Meanwhile, the Assam government has announced total lockdown in two districts-- Golaghat and Lakhimpur --till further order.
The government noted that rates of positive cases are moderate in five districts--Goalpara Morigaon, Jorhat, Sonitpur and Biswanath. Therefore the curfew time in these districts will be from 2 pm to 5 am.
In other districts that are also showing improvement in COVID-19 cases, including Dhubri, Kamrup(M), South Salmara, Majuli, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Udalguri, West Karbi Anglong, Dima, Hasao, Charaideo, Hailakandi, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Nalbari, Baksa, Bajali, Kamrup, Darang, Nagaon, Hojai, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Cachar, Karimgam, Karbi Anglong, the curfew will be imposed from 5 pm to 5 am.
"All workplaces, business/commercial establishments, dine-in restaurants, hotels, resorts, dhabas and other eateries, the takeaway of food items from restaurants, dhabas and other eateries, the opening of sale counters, showrooms etc of cold storages and warehouses will be up to 1 PM in districts showing moderate positivity rate and up to 4 pm in districts showing improvement in positivity rate," the notification issued by the state government on July 28 said.
Assam reported 975 fresh COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths on Friday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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