Bengal: Sweet shops reopen amid lockdown, bring sugary joy to mishti lovers

Long queues outside sweetshops in Kolkata during the lockdown speaks to why their opening was essential. As shops opened around the afternoon, consumers and online delivery boys were there to pick up orders.

It is almost after a week that these sweetshops have opened and the response is highly enthusiastic.

Once again, West Bengal has proven its love for sweets and has become perhaps the first state in the country to open all sweetshops from Tuesday amid the countrywide lockdown in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Mamata Banerjee government has allowed all sweet shops to remain open from 12 noon to 4 pm amid the Covid-19 lockdown but on the condition that people will not be allowed to sit and eat in the shops and that they will follow social distancing during the opening hours.

Sweets are not just a delicacy in West Bengal, they are an integral part of the average Bengali's meal. For sweets to be back on the dinner plate is nothing less than a blessing for the entire state.

Sweet manufacturers in Bengal have been experiencing a tough time during the Covid-19 crisis. The industry that runs into crores and has the maximum number of stakeholders across the state saw a major dip in earnings in just a week.

West Bengal has approximately 17,500 people associated in sweet making business forums and has more than one lakh such shops across the state. Statistics calculated by sweet sellers state that there are 17 sweet shops per kilometer stretch of the state -- the highest of anywhere in the country.

In West Bengal, even milkmen were compelled to throw almost two lakh liters of milk every day due to the shutting of these sweet shops. Out of the three lakh liters of milk produced in the state more than 60 percent is consumed by the sweetmeat shops.

The sweet and milk industry go hand in hand. The sweet industry employs more than 10 lakh people in the state who are associated with different aspects of the business and depend on it for survival.

Sudip Mullick, owner of famous Balaram Mullick Sweets explained We are very happy that the chief minister has taken this decision. At least we will be able to supply the basics for now. We did not sleep last night to ensure we are able to meet the demand. Since morning we are flooded with online orders on Swiggy and Zomato. For now, there are many buyers also who are walking up to the shop for buying sweets."

To take care of the rules we have placed car-mats of green color for people to stand at the prescribed distance. Also, we will be giving sweets free to those who are working in essential services like hospitals, medical services, police, etc. we have made packets for them already, Mullick added.

Not just shopowners, even customers are celebrating this decision.

One local Ayush said, We are very happy all we have to do nowadays is to eat food. This is now legal so we don’t have to arrange sweets but we can go to the shop, buy and eat!

Roma, another buyer said, I feel like I am eating sweets after ages. Mishti Doi is my favorite and finally, this will be something that will make me feel better. It is not a holiday but eating sweets will make us feel better.

Those working in the online food delivery business are happy to get orders.

Nazeer, a Zomato employee said, We had no work but now with sweet shops opening we are getting lots of online orders.

Kaushik Adhikary, a delivery boy with Swiggy said, Sweets are a favorite of people here but there is a sudden rush of orders. I have already delivered three orders.

As the stores open to sell sweets in these testing times, India Today TV saw a sweet that perfectly reflects the current times -- a television set made of sweets with Doordarshan written on it!