Officials of the Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation (KSIC) were at the receiving end on Wednesday after hundreds of people who turned up at their outlets in Bengaluru expecting to buy silk sarees at discounted rates, had to go back empty-handed, as per a report by Roshan Raj in The New Indian Express.
The irate customers held demonstrations outside the KSIC showrooms.
People had thronged to the showrooms based on an announcement by Sericulture Minister Sa Ra Mahesh that a sale will be held on Independence Day ahead of the main sale on Varamahalakshmi.
However, when they reached the outlets, they were surprised to find that the sale had been cancelled by the KSIC.
It was announced that the special sale would now be held only on Varamahalakshmi, when sarees worth Rs 5,000 will be sold at Rs 4,000, on the condition that buyers come with their Aadhaar cards.
One of the customers, Vinaya G Murthy (56) told TNIE, “We have been waiting to buy the sarees from the last two months after we read about the offer in a newspaper. I spent Rs 400 on a cab to reach here. It takes more than an hour to reach here, so I finished all my chores early and reached here for the purchase, only to know that the offer is postponed. How can the government do this? Are they making a fool out of us?”
Many reasons were cited for the sale being called off on Wednesday. One of the shop officials told TNIE that the offer was postponed due to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) election.
He added that those who came with their Aadhaar cards to buy the sarees had been given a special token so that they could come on a notified day and complete the purchase based on the promised offer.
However, by afternoon, even the token system was withdrawn. Sericulture Minister Sa Ra Mahesh later confirmed that the sale had to be deferred due to the ULB elections code of conduct.