Photographers at Mumbai's Gateway of India share stories of despair as tourists decline

Amid the COVID-19 restrictions in Mumbai, photographers at the Gateway are facing a tough time.  With restrictions on travel in place, photograapher's are facing huge financial crunch. A photographer, Manoj said that their earnings "are nothing" as compared to what it was before the pandemic.

"With the COVID relaxations  between October 2020 and January 2021, our income started coming back to normal. Had it continued for at least six months, we would have recovered our income for the first lockdown", said Manoj to ANI.

How COVID restrictions in Mumbai affected photographers?

Further, Manoj said that there were around 400 photographers at Gateway of India before COVID restrictions in Mumbai, but now less than100 are left in the area as some have shifted to their native places or have taken up other odd jobs.

On government schemes launched to aid them, Manoj said, "The government is only taking care of its servants."  Another photographer also expressed his disappointment. 

"Earlier in a single day, we used to have 500-700 customers. Now, we have only 150 customers. On some days,  there are also zero customers.

''Being able to earn food is enough now", said another photographer.

 COVID impact on other unorganized sectors

Many unorganized sectors have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the wedding industry, events industry, and fitness industry. Due to global COVID restrictions, these industries have suffered a lot and received no aid. They faced a huge loss as the situation is quite uncertain worldwide. 

(Image:PIXABAY/ANI)