Blasts cast gloom on New Year cheer

The dawn of the New Year was not such great news for Guwahati since the city
was rocked by three bomb blasts. The blasts which took place in Birubari,
Bhutnath and Bhangarh markets during the afternoon, resulted in five casualties
leaving 67 people injured. The blasts which are being seen by most as the
handiwork of ULFA, have managed to wipe out the New Year cheer from the IT
market.

The market had just started recovering after the serial blasts in November
last year when the fresh blasts struck panic into the hearts of the people in
the north-eastern region once again.

Talking about the repeated blasts, SL Jain, MD, Jain Infosys, Guwahati
commented, “The security scenario is grave here. As of now it is too early to
speak about the effect these blasts will have on the IT channel space, yet we
are expecting a drastic slowdown in sales if the security scenario remains the
same.”

Expecting thriving business in the new year ahead, the IT channel space had
geared up for celebrations flooding the market with offers with a steady supply
of IT commodities. Now, the situation has again become grim with most of the
channel players in Guwahati taking a pessimistic stance for the year ahead.

“We were expecting a booming market this January-February on occasion of the
upcoming Bihu festival, but again, I personally feel that we will have to close
down early because of this situation, somewhat similar to the circumstances in
November,” Jain added.