itne log kabhi nahi aayehelmetkharidne says atul patel owner of a helmet shop at mirzapur in the walled city last few days have been really busy for atul as amdavadis are queuing up to buy the safety gear to avoid hefty fines under the new motor vehicles act the state government had recently announced that the new rules and revised fines will be implemented from september 16 resulting in serpentine queues outside puc centres and helmet shops with a rise in demand helmet prices seem to be soaring northwards helmets that were sold for rs300350 are now priced at rs600700 at most shops with majority of amdavadis going for nonbranded helmets over branded and more expensive ones despite price hike most retailers seem to be witnessing a 50 per cent upsurge in business a shortage of supply from market leaders and wholesalers have further resulted in the price risewith rise in demand and shortage of supply price toh badhna hi thaa study by the city police has found that 48 of people who ride twowheelers in ahmedabad do not wear a helmet the study also mentioned that ahmedabads helmet compliance is 52 among 30 lakh twowheeler riders the excuses not to wear vary from having orthopaedic problems to have forgotten helmets at homethe otherwise deserted shops selling helmets now sport a busy look these days while most retailers are having a tiring and difficult time handling the customers no one seems to be complaining price toh badhna hi tha itne log kabhi nahi aaye helmet kharidne when the demand rises the prices go up automatically says atul patel most retailers except bigplayers in the market are running short of stock resulting in a further rise in the price maal hi nahi aa raha aage se hum kya karein says chandrakant parmar a retailer at mithakali he adds we have only two days of stock left if new stock comes by then we will continue selling out items on current market price if the fresh stock doesnt come to us then we will hike the price even more the implementation of the amended motor vehicles act has increased the demand of helmets across markets and suppliers have been unable to provide enough material to all cities say retailersaffordable nonbranded helmets fly off the shelvesattending to a nonstop inflow of buyers retailers have no time to breathe while the sales are high most customers are choosing helmets that are easy on the pocket compromising on quality mostly people are buying helmets ranging between 500600 which are nonbranded says farooq nagori a retailer at subhash bridge he adds the sales are up by almost 50 per cent which is encouraging to meet the demand we are keeping our shop open till latepredictably the customers are unhappy about having to shell out extra for helmets not only have the fines been hiked even the market price of helmets has gone up says ratan shah a professional from ahmedabad he adds theres very little