vadodaraanand by this time of the year when uttarayan is just a month away colourful kites already start dotting the skies across the state with revellers practising to fly kites on their terraces but the festive mood is missing in khambhat town of anand district gujarats traditional kite manufacturing hub as kite vendors havent placed bulk orders thanks to demonetisation like his father manubhai chunara 62 with his extended family of 20 members is engaged in the traditional cottage industry at this coastal town since he turned 18 never have i witnessed my stocks of kites remaining unsold till this date most traders from ahmedabad vadodara surat anand and even from neighbouring states place their orders postdiwali but it is just a month left to uttarayan and there is not a single order placed says manubhai who last year sold eight lakh kites but this time has a stock of five lakh kites intact while raw material to manufacture three lakh kites is lying unattended to i will have to mortgage my house if the stock remains unsold as i have to also pay wages to the workers belonging to muslim community adds manubhailike him 53yearold manhar chunara says there is no business left for him there is a major slowdown that we are witnessing traders want to purchase kites but they themselves are facing liquidity crunch says manhar who has a stock of 70000 kites that remain unsold till date what started as a hobby of nawabs who once ruled this coastal town has become a business in khambhat where nearly 17000 artisans from chunara and muslim families produce around five crore kites a year with a turnover estimated at rs15 crore we dont know how to survive in this situation and whether it will improve at all we started manufacturing kites in march and it continues till january the real pace picks up after labh pancham where we are paid advance but we have received not a single penny this year says bhavin chunara who has a stock of 15000 kites the town is home to nearly 1300 small and big contractors involved in the kite manufacturing business there are eight stages for preparing a single kite most of the workers engaged in this trade are poor men and women with limited cash we have to decide whether to pay daily wages feed our own families or purchase raw material to manufacture kites says miyaz hussain 61 eight generation kite manufacturer who normally produces five lakh kites but this year has prepared only a little over a lakh