Shimla's horse owners facing hardships due to second wave of pandemic

The business of horse owners in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla has been badly hit amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. "3,500 to 4,000 horses are involved in tourism business here all of them are free nowadays, there is no work available," said a local horseman.

For over a month now horse owners here have been jobless. The tourists have not entered the state during the peak tourist season this year and now the COVID-19 pandemic graph in the state and the capital city have started rising with rapid speed. The tourism sector, which is a major source of employment, has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many people like the horse owners or 'Ghodewalas' of Shimla struggling to survive.

"We are not having a good business as locals and tourists are not coming here. Very few people can be seen here," said another local horseman. In the usual peak season, hundreds of people used to come for a horse ride daily here in the beautiful historic town. Horse owners are disappointed as they neither have any business nor any job for the future amid the pandemic.