A solitary farmer was seen on an empty road at Fire Brigade here on a distress sale mission to unload his produce almost a month into the lockdown imposed on East Khasi Hills to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Seeing his obvious distress, two passers-by, including a journalist, sympathetically each bought a bunch of his coriander leaves as they made their way to work in their frontline jobs.
The farmer told Highland Post that he had heard of a market being open for wholesalers at Anjali point and had brought his produce to sell there this morning.
“But no buyers came there. Hardly anyone was there. Everything else is closed, so how will buyers come? It is not possible for me to take back my goods to Mylliem. So, taking a chance, I’m walking around town hoping people will buy,” he said. He still had a heavy load to carry.
The man said still had not paid his fare to the driver of the vehicle that brought him to Shillong. The idea was to pay the driver out of the amount he earned selling his produce.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do if this is not sold,” he muttered, standing there in the silence of the lockdown.
