Vegetable prices has started to witness a spike after supply started drying up following the closure of Khandsa Mandi, the city’s biggest vegetable market, till May 8.
Around 6,000 quintals (60,000 kilos) of vegetables from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and nearby Mewat used to arrive at Khandsa Mandi daily, from where thousands of local vendors procured their stocks to further sell to residents across the city.
The market was shut on May 5 (Tuesday) for sanitisation after nine vegetable vendors there tested positive for Covid-19.
Ashok Yadav, a vegetable vendor in sector 50, said that he usually has 32 varieties of vegetables to sell to his customers. On Wednesday, he had only four.
“I source all my vegetables from Khandsa Mandi. Now that the market is hut, I have been left in a lurch. I only had stock of four vegetables and that’s all I was able to offer to my customers today (Wednesday). An acquaintance of mine distributes vegetables in Faridabad and I am trying to place an order with him so that I have something to sell for the next two days. Else, I will have to close my store temporarily,” said Yadav.
Vishal Singh, a roadside vegetable vendor at Sadar Bazar, said that after a lot of attempts he was able to procure vegetables from a vegetable market on New Railway Road at reasonable rates.
“After travelling across the city for two hours, I managed to find a vegetable market on New Railway Road where vegetables were being sold at at an affordable rate. I had visited three stores before that and each of them were selling vegetables at nearly double the rate than that at Khandsa Mandi. Due to the extra travelling and higher prices of vegetables, I had to increase my price by around 60% to recover the extra costs,” said Singh.
Singh said that he sold brinjals and bottle gourd at Rs 80 per kilogram and Rs 65 respectively, against Rs 50 and Rs 45 last week.
The shortage in vegetables has also affected its quality, with residents complaining that the stock being sold now was inferior.
“My roadside vendor informed me about the closure of Khandsa Mandi. They either managed to procure really inferior quality of vegetables from somewhere else or were selling the leftover stock at a slightly higher price. I usually buy enough vegetables to last me five-six days but after sifting through the stock, I just bought enough to last me for two days this time. The quality of vegetables was very bad,” said Upasana Gujral, a resident of DLF Phase 4.
Gujral said on Wednesday she purchased okra at Rs 65 per kilogram, as compared to Rs 40 per kilo two days ago.
Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) officials admitted that there was an issue with regards to distribution of vegetables due to the closing of the market but said there has been no change in regards to the supply in vegetables to the warehouses.
Vinay Yadav, secretary of HSAMB said that the Khandsa Mandi will reopen on early Saturday morning and the situation will normalise after that.
“Overall there has been no impact on the supply of vegetables from other states and from within Haryana as they are directly stocked in warehouses. It is the distribution at local stores and road-side vendors which has been affected due to the closing of Khandsa Mandi. At the big retail shops and online-vegetable delivery platforms, which directly get their supply from the warehouses, there has been no change in supply or prices,” said Yadav.
He said that HSAMB officials conducted random checks for inflation in vegetable prices but did not find any instances of violation so far.
“Our first batch of officials did random checks at big retail stores and also checked online-delivery platforms and found no change in regards to prices. A report from another team, which is checking local vendors and stores, is awaited. Either way, the market will reopen on Saturday morning after which the supply of vegetables across the city will resume as usual,” said Yadav.
"vegetable" - Google News
May 07, 2020 at 01:16AM
https://ift.tt/3b9bZnE
Khandsa Mandi closed, vegetable prices burn a hole in pocket - Hindustan Times
"vegetable" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2CyIOeE
https://ift.tt/3aVzfVV
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Khandsa Mandi closed, vegetable prices burn a hole in pocket - Hindustan Times"
Post a Comment