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HomeIndiaHow Covid has turned JNU's once-thriving addas — its canteens, dhabas —...

How Covid has turned JNU’s once-thriving addas — its canteens, dhabas — into ghost points

Once a hub for food and social activity, the 20-odd eateries in JNU are barely able to meet operational costs, let alone turn profit, as Covid has kept most customers off campus.

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New Delhi: For generations of students living in Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) Brahmaputra hostel, Yadav ji’s shop has satiated cravings of a hot morning cup of tea and late evening hunger pangs for years. The 50-year-old stall is one of 20 small and medium-sized eateries on campus that cater to about 8,000 students. Over the years, these eateries have not only served affordable food to students, but became a part of JNU’s campus culture.

But in the past year, the pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to these eateries.

What was once a hub for young scholars discussing everything from politics to pop culture over steaming cups of tea/coffee or plates of instant noodles/parathas/omelettes, is now a much quieter space, bereft of social activity.

“Some of these eateries are over 50 years old and are deeply rooted in the history and culture of JNU,” said Rituraj, a 28-year-old PhD student at the university. “Even people from outside JNU visit the campus, to eat at these places. For the students, these eateries are as much about food, as about interacting with others — debates and discussions take place and sometimes professors joined in.”

Latif Ahmed at his canteen | Soniya Agrawal | ThePrint
Latif Ahmed at his canteen | Soniya Agrawal | ThePrint

In March 2020, with the Covid threat facing the country, educational institutions were shut down and classes shifted to the virtual medium. This also meant the closing down of the canteens and dhabas on campuses. Restrictions have since eased and the JNU administration has permitted eateries to reopen again, but their future seems uncertain.

Eatery owners complain of having suffered huge losses in business with the year-long closure. Sales are limited even now, since JNU is yet to allow all students to return to campus. According to the rules, only final year students and PhD scholars have been permitted to return to campus to access laboratories and for examinations. In the meantime, the canteen operators still have bills to pay — rent to the university for space  and electricity bills, even for the period when the eateries were closed.

All canteen operators interviewed by ThePrint shared this common complaint — that they were being charged rent and for electricity despite being closed for most of the past year. However, they haven’t yet approached university authorities with their grievances.

Given the dwindling savings and little earnings, the owners of these canteens now fear they may have to shut shop permanently.

ThePrint reached JNU registrar, Professor Ravikesh, over calls and text messages for a comment on the matter, but didn’t receive a response till the time of publishing this report.


Also read: JNU files FIR against students for forcibly entering library, students say need access to books


‘How do we pay rent’

During the past year, Yadav ji (he prefers to only go by his last name) said all food supplies that were left at the shop had gone bad, adding to his losses.

“I haven’t been able to pay the monthly rent of about Rs 4,000 for the shop since March 2020. The shop was shut due to the pandemic and there were no earnings. How do we pay the rent?” said the 71-year-old.

In order to renew the license for his shop, the canteen operator will have to pay a total of over Rs 50,000 as rent to the university administration, an amount he says he has no idea how to raise.

A few steps away from his canteen, is another popular eatery known as Dahiyaji’s, named after Karamvir Dahiya, the man running the place. JNU students swear by Dahiyaji’s parathas, omelettes and coffee. But, the 58-year-old’s situation is only marginally better than that of Yadav.

Dahiya has managed to clear all bills for the previous months, but he says it was done with great difficulty.

“I had to mortgage my wife’s jewellery to raise money. I had no money to pay my cooks and the university administration. All the food items that were left in the shop perished and had to be thrown away. It was a major loss for me,” said Dahiya, adding that he has not seen anything as destructive as the Covid pandemic in his 20 years of running the canteen.

Though open and running again, sales have remained disappointing.

“I opened my shop last week. Earlier there would be a 30-minute wait period because of the crowd, now we barely have any customers. I used to have three cooks, now I can only afford one,” he said, adding, “The university hasn’t allowed all students to come back and how much will the others (final year and PhD students) eat?” said Dahiya.


Also read: A year on, Delhi Police says probe in JNU violence in last leg, will file final report soon


Missing loyal customers

Latif Ahmed, manager of the canteen in the Social Sciences building, said he might have to shut down his place at the campus. The 42-year-old has been working here for the past 23 years, but is unable to handle the mounting losses any more.

“Last year during the pandemic, since shops on campus were shut, I decided to open a food outlet in Vasant Kunj. But because of the Covid restrictions, business was slow. I was incurring a loss of a lakh rupees every month and had to shut down the place in a few months. Now, I am back at the canteen, but we are not even recovering operational costs,” he said.

The bulk of his sales in pre-Covid times would come from serving tea to the professors in the building. Now with classes continuing online, Latif is left without his loyal customers.

“The university administration should relax the rent or give some kind of help for small shops like ours,” he said.

Vikas Bhushan at the canteen that used to be operated by his father before his death | Soniya Agrawal | ThePrint
Vikas Bhushan at the canteen that used to be operated by his father before his death | Soniya Agrawal | ThePrint

For Vikas Bhushan, the pandemic has spelt both personal and business loss. His father, Ravi Bhushan ran a flourishing business at the JNU campus for years, serving approximately 3,000 students daily. Now, with both Bhushan and his wife succumbing to Covid, their son, Vikas doesn’t know how to take care of the canteen.

“My father had been running this canteen for decades. But we owe the university Rs 1,32,000 as rent. Mera toh sabh kuch khatam hogaya (I have lost everything.) I don’t have the financial or monetary support to keep running the place.”

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)


Also read: Covid economic distress is real, just look at the full-page ads for gold jewellery auctions


 

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