Killer virus affects Litchi sales in Gangtok

GANGTOK, 11 June: The death of 8 children in Malda due to encephalopathy spreading from the popular summer fruit ‘litchi’ around 3 days ago, has led to a lot of apprehension among the Sikkim consumers too. However, they can rest assured for now since fruit sellers at Lall Bazaar in Gangtok insist that they source their stock of litchis from Muzaffarpur in Bihar [and not Malda].

Speaking to NOW!, Kamredin Ansari [aged 28], who runs a fruit stall here at Lall Bazaar says, “All the stocks [Litchis] are directly sourced from Muzaffarpur, Bihar. We don’t get litchis from Malda because it costs more and does not have very long shelf life”.

However, he added that sales have gone down since the Malda incident. He said that he has not got any buyers for litchi in the past few days.

“Usually we would have sold 5-6 sacks of litchis by now but we haven’t sold even half a sack till now,” said Mr. Ansari.

Another fruit-seller at Lall Bazaar, Biki Prasad [aged 30] informs that as soon as news of the litchi virus spread, there has been a slump in the number of customers coming to his stall.

“We only sell selected goods from Siliguri which is brought directly from Muzaffarpur,” he added.