Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Wholesale sellers of the Tricolour in the city say that the national flags are in short supply because of the sudden surge in demand for the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign.
The demand for the flags suddenly picked up after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call to the people to hoist the national tricolour this year, too, on August 15 at their homes in his radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ recently. The campaign was launched last year. The price of the national flag has also gone up by 25%. “ Last year, it was Rs 30-40 per flag but now it is Rs 60,” they said.
Ajay Agarwal, owner of Sheela Group, Malviya Nagar, told the Free Press that he has received orders for supplying around 25 lakh flags across the country over the past few days.
“However, we have been able to fulfil only 10% of the orders,” he said, adding that they were also receiving orders online. “We are using railways, trucks and courier services to fulfil the orders,” he added. According to Nitesh Agarwal, owner of Jhalak Enterprises, near MLA Rest House, they have stopped accepting new orders due to short supply.
“How can we take orders from customers if we didn’t have the stocks,” he said, adding that such a situation is occurring due to late promotion of the drive by the government.
He is getting orders mostly from government offices like Zila Panchayats and municipal bodies in Betul, Sehore, Shujalpur and other districts. Nitesh , however, said that the demand for the flag is less than last year. “Earlier it was Rs 40-50 lakhs but it is Rs 1-2 lakh this year to date,” Nitesh said. According to Ajay, cloth printed with the Tricolour is produced in mills in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Surat. Bolts of these clothes are transported to Bhopal and cut and stitched locally.
Earlier, only hand-spun and hand-woven woollen, silk or cotton Khadi could be used for making national flags but last year, the Central Government amended the Flag Code of India, allowing the use of polyester (roto) fabric for making the Tricolour. This change has made the flags affordable, Ajay said.
“We are not taking orders as we are not sure of supplies. We have been getting orders from across Madhya Pradesh including Khurai, Satna, Damoh, and Hoshangabad,” says owner of Agarwal Bandhu, Hari Prakash adding that “The demand may increase as the Independence Day draws closer,” he said.
