hyderabad a trader at begum bazar harish dewasi who used to sell stationery goods for over a decade is now selling masks after a slowdown in business after schools were shut my stationery business collapsed completely i have to pay rs 20000 rent per month for the shop so i decided to start selling masks as there is a huge demand for them said dewasi admitting he did not know much about quality the hand sewn masks sold by me will surely protect against the virus said the 40yearold neverthelesslike him several traders in the city have entered the mask trade with no idea about norms that need to be followed experts say many of these masks do not meet basic standards including quality of fabric stitching requirements sterile packaging certification and branding with the manufacturers name several traders in fact agree that they have just used the window of opportunity to meet their financial needs satish bhatia who used to sell apparel has now switched over to the mask business starting price of masks in my shop is rs 5 and good quality masks sell up to rs 50 per piece i could not revive my business after the prolonged lockdown but selling masks has helped manage finances he said he said he was selling masks manufactured with nonwoven material which are safe incidentally even a cobbler at begum bazar was spotted selling masks apart from footwear hundreds of smalltimers are selling masks in begum bazar said to be the largest commercial marketing hub in telangana over 90 of the masks do not have layers and use common fabric even sarees bedsheets as per traders for manufacturers begum bazar is like a goose that lays the golden eggs if they can supply masks within 24 hours a trader doing spice business at begum bazar told toicustomers at the market said lower costs were a huge draw for masks available on the streets lokesh reddy a customer who came to begum bazar to buy masks for his family said i cannot afford buying n95 masks so i prefer these maskswhile the state government is imposing a penalty of rs 1000 for not wearing a mask there is no mechanism to control sale of inferior quality masks complained homemaker latha who was also spotted at the market