Enter the Phiringia weekly market, the first thing you will notice is heaps of dry fish with woman traders sitting beside. The dry fish, out of which several local delicacies are made, were in great demand before the demonetisation. Now, the fish stock is on the verge of rotting. Around 30 businesswomen come to the market with the stock every Tuesday from Baliguda in Kandhamal district. They procure the dry fish in bulk from wholesalers in Berhampur of Ganjam district. “Each of us had lifted fish stock worth Rs 20,000 in the first week of November. We didn’t know that the stock will remain unsold?” said Dalimba Behera. She said suddenly the notes were banned dealing a body blow to their business. “We don’t know for whose benefit the notes were banned but we are at the receiving end. I think it will take a long time before things normalize,” she added. The fish traders keep eight varieties of fish, which are prepared by drying and sprinkling salt. Although dry fish’s shelflife is around two weeks after preparation, they had procured them a month ago. Especially in winter the sale peaks. Sarita Sahoo, another woman, said the fish have started smelling bad and they have no storage facility in their village. “If a man comes with Rs 2,000 (which is my one-day sale) note and buy Rs 200 worth of fish, how can I return the remaining Rs 800?” she asked adding in Phiringia and Baliguda, the ATMs are yet to dispense new Rs 500 notes. Sarita said in order to get change currencies they had to wait in long queue. If this situation persists they will have to look for other livelihood options. “It is better to sell vegetable in small quantity rather than bear losses due to rotten fish,” she said.
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