News Politics National Where have all the flowers gone? Demand peaks in Agra

Where have all the flowers gone? Demand peaks in Agra

Agra: The start of the marriage season, the perennial demand for use in religious purposes, coupled with a high-voltage election campaign has created a shortage of flowers in Agra, and the ones available have seen

The demand in the electoral season has hit other users hard.

Marriage pandal decorator Anoop says the cost of decorating the mandap and the gates has gone up because of the demand pressure on flowers. "We are using imported flowers also. Generally flowers in this season came from all parts of the country but because of the elections there is demand everywhere."

The best solution has come from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in line with their ethos of thrift and marshalling their scarce resources to a great effect as they can.

AAP candidate Ravindra Singh believes in recycling garlands. "Each day, hundreds of garlands are being presented. We tell people not to waste money on them. If they are keen we give them a few used garlands which can be presented to us again."