Delhiites will have to shell out hefty price for another couple of weeks to buy vegetables, including tomato and onion. The flash flood and landslides in Uttarakhand destroyed the tomatoes there, as a result of which Delhi has to depend on States like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat.
As traders in Delhi put it, the vegetable suppliers in these States have increased the prices leading to tripling in tomato prices in Delhi. The prices of other vegetables have gone up by Rs 10 to Rs 15 per kg. “Supply of tomato has been affected as harvesting has been hampered in States like Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and East Punjab, due to continuous rain. Tomato supplies to Delhi markets have been affected by blocked roads following the recent landslides and flash floods in Uttarakhand,” said a trader in the Capital.
Rajender Sharma — chairman of Azadpur Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee — the largest wholesale market for vegetables and fruit in Asia also said: “Shortage of supply from Uttarakhand and other hilly States has forced the Capital to fill the demand gap from bringing the crops from Karnataka and Maharashtra and Gujarat.”
BS Sehrawat, Secretary for Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee, Shahdara said that due to lack of infrastructure and facility to store, one-third of total crop has been destroyed by rain, though this is not the only reason for the price-rise of vegetables.
“This time of the year, usually the prices of vegetables increase every year. This is not unusual. As farmers and producers are free to determine the prices of their vegetables themselves, their arbitrariness certainly result into price rise,” said Sehrawat adding, “Impact may continue for weeks, hence prices of vegetables may remain high for a couple of months, especially tomato, onion and potato.”
Tomatoes, which were earlier available for Rs 20-25 per kg is now being sold at Rs 40-60 per kg. Rate of onion has also skyrocketed, it is now available at Rs 35 per kg, which was Rs 15-20 per kg. Mohan lal, a wholesale dealer at Azadpur said current tomato arrivals at the market have dipped by 50 per cent. Taking advantage of the situation several local vendors increased their profit margin exorbitantly.
“We keep our margin according to the price at which we get the vegetables from the mandi, we are suffering too as people are now buying lesser quantities,” said Sompal, a local vendor in North Delhi.