Agencies
Srinagar, Sept 05: While most of the businesses in Kashmir are facing heavy losses due to the ongoing agitation, bicycle and motorcycle dealers have witnessed a boost in their sales due to fear among car-owners of getting caught in stone pelting.
Bicycles had virtually been reduced to being the transport of the poor over the past two decades, but frequent stone-pelting incidents in recent months have almost removed the class divide as more and more people are using two wheelers to commute around the city.
"Although there are very few days of normalcy in Kashmir, I have managed to sell eight to 10 bicycles on each of those days over the past two months," Mohammad Ramzan Mir, who has a bicycle sale and repair shop in uptown area of the city, said.
He said bicycle sales over the years had dropped drastically and the majority of the customers were either from rural areas or parents buying small cycles for their children.
"City people were mostly ignoring bicycles but now that has changed as Srinagar has been the most affected because of the ongoing turmoil. Even rich people are buying bicycles to avoid any damage to their expensive cars," Mir added.
Even motorcycle sales are on the rise. An outlet of a leading motorcycle brand sold four bikes in less that two hours last week when a separatists-sponsored strike was called off in the evening.
