Vegetable prices are likely to soar due to the ongoing strike called by the wholesale traders in the Capital. On Monday, the prices of majority of vegetables witnessed a sharp rise from Rs 5 to Rs 15 in retail market and the vendors have speculated further rise once the stock available in retail market ends.
The recent crisis was created after traders called an indefinite strike in protest of the abolition of six per cent commission being charged from farmers by the traders of wholesale markets in Delhi. “The Government will invoke Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) if the supply is stopped by the wholesalers. We have requisite permission from the l-G,” PWD Minister Manish Sisodia said.
The Government has also threatened cancellation of licences of those traders who are not willing to comply with orders. The vegetable sellers of retail market said that the traders had stopped supplying goods since Sunday night and hence, Delhiites have to shell out a hefty amount in coming days. The trades of nearby mandis including Ghazipur, Keshav Puram and Okhla have also been affected up to a maximum extent as supply of vegetables are not taking place from Azadpur mandi.
“On Monday, the vendors purchased vegetables indirectly from traders which cost Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kilogram more in comparison to previous days and we have no other option than selling the same to customers at higher rates. Apart from this the stocked material will also get over before Tuesday and we will have to increases prices at any cost. On Sunday we sold Onion at Rs. 15 per kg but today(Monday) we are selling it between Rs. 20 to Rs. 25. The price of bitter gourd is Rs 80 per kg today (Monday) while yesterday (Sunday) it was between Rs 50 and Rs 60. Similarly price of bottle gourd was Rs 10 per kg on Sunday while it has been Rs. 25 to Rs 30 on Monday,” said Ganesh Rout, a retail vegetable seller of laxmi Nagar.
“Supply of tomato, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, peas and others has been affected as the retailers have asked farmers of Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, East Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh to stop sending vegetable trucks. As we have good connections with the traders, we took vegetables from back doors on high prices and now we will shift the burden to customers,” said a retailer, Suresh kumar, of Adarsh Nagar area.
Meanwhile the traders of Azadpur Mandi said that they will continue their agitation till their demand was not met. “As the Government has abolished the commission from farmers, our profit margin will go down by 80 per cent. If the Government does not consider our demand the prices of all vegetables will witness three to four times rise by the end of the week and the people will have to suffer,” said Rakesh Narula, a trader of the mandi.