Few takers for pot of gold this karwa chauth

LUCKNOW: There is a steep fall this year in the sale of gold ‘karwa’ (pots) for the Karwa Chauth festival. From 784 last year, the number has dropped to 100. Sale of gold and silver jewellery ahead of the festival in which married women fast has also gone down by 60% this season.
Jewellers’ association president Adeesh Jain related the fall in sale to the rule of obtaining the customers’ identity proof on sale amounting over Rs 50,000.Though the Rs 50,000 threshold was increased to Rs 2 lakh on Friday, jewellers said it could not make much of a difference. Last year, sale in the city in the week before the festival was of around Rs 35 crore, this year it had reached only Rs 15 crore till Saturday afternoon.
“People who buy jewellery plan in advance, so change in rules made no difference,” said jeweller Rijul Maheshwari. The costliest pure gold karwa sold this year is worth Rs 2,48,000, with intricate design and stone work.