The sufferings brought upon by the Phailin, floods and rains have now got compounded with the sharp rise of prices of commodities as common as onion, salt, potato and other consumables. The stereotype image of poor man subsisting on rice and onion is a passé now, for he can no longer afford to buy them.
“The Phailin certainly has nothing to do with onion and potato. Our State is not self reliant on the two common vegetables and depends on States like West Bengal, AP and Maharashtra. But the question is — are the steps taken by the Government to rein in dishonest hoarders and black marketers adequate and effectiveIJ” said Manabesh Mohanty, a college student here.
He added that a section of hoarders is cashing in on the plight of the calamity victims to mint money. Greater is others’ pain, more is their gain. The foul play started days before the Phailin was to strike the State and is continuing till date. Panic buying was but a natural corollary to the gradual vanishing of different items from the market.
And it is the unscrupulous traders who have a bigger hand in the artificial scarcity of various commodities, he asserted.
“Onion was too costly before Phailin. However, after it, most vegetables grew costly. As if it was not enough, the commonest of the common vegetable potato has joined the race of late and sells at `50 to `80. What a cruel joke played with the storm and flood ravaged victims! What will they eat, after allIJ How long will they rely on your almsIJ
In some areas water is yet to recede, while in some parts, the residents have yet to rebuild their damaged houses. When they have nothing left out, where will they get the money to buy the pricy consumablesIJ leave alone the calamity survivors, even the people who have been left untouched by the Nature’s fury, are now passing each day in utter hardship for prices of all commodities have touched roof and one has had to return from with bagful of agony and sadness, not with daily ration,” argued Dipti Senapati, another student of a city-based engineering institute.
Meanwhile, the sudden price hike of onion and potato has left many roadside eateries in the lurch as the two vegetables constitute their major ration.
The vendors selling gupchup, masala chat, dosa and other snacks and fast food in which potato is the main ingredient, have been forced to put their services in abeyance. For, they apprehend that they will end up finding few customers, if they sell their products at higher prices.
“I’ve come to the market with my box half filled with gupchups. I do it because I don’t have adequate quantity of masala potato. I have been able to continue the service as I’m still left with some potato what I had procured during my last bulk purchase. However, after a day or two, I’ll run out of both potato and onion and I’ll be forced to put off my business if the two vegetables are not available adequately and their prices do not stabilizes,” informed Pratik Sah, a gupchup seller of the Kalpana area.
“The Government’s bid to sell onion and potato at subsidised rates is only a farce and no solution to the crisis. Stern and exemplary action is required to be taken against hoarders. Besides, long term measures like cold storage facility should be extended to more areas in the State. Since Odisha is prone to natural disasters, the Government should make a policy on how to deal with the problem created by scarcity of food items and their price rise before, during and after a catastrophe hits the State,” opined a senior citizen.