Boat artisans suffer hardship in Kanpur amid COVID-19

Boat artisans in Sarsaiya Ghat of Kanpur face hardship as the customers are not turning up to buy boats during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are suffering huge losses as the customers are not turning up to buy the boats," said Pradeep Kumar Nishad, a boat maker in Kanpur adding that "nearly 80-90 families are dependent on this business."

"Everything was under lockdown for over 2 months and now monsoon season has arrived. We are highly affected with Coronavirus and are not able to get a good quality of material to build boats," he added.

These artisans are famous for supplying boats across the country. "It takes nearly three days to build a boat and cost Rs 7,000 but we sell it for Rs 8,000," Rakesh Kumar Nishad, another boat builder said.

( With inputs from ANI )