Bhubaneswar: The prices of almost all vegetables in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack markets have gone sky high in the last two weeks, forcing the consumers, particularly vegans, to cut down their budget on the green items.
According to sources, the prices of vegetables have doubled in a few days. Except potato, nothing comes for less than Rs 50 per kg in the markets of the twin cities.
While the tomato costs Rs 50 to 60 per kg, beans come for around Rs 180, brinjal Rs 60 to 80, lady’s finger Rs 80 to 100 per kg. “A bag full of vegetables will burn a hole in your pocket. How would a vegetarian person sustain with such costly vegetables?,” asked a consumer.
While the retailers put the blame on the wholesalers, the latter pointed at short supply from other states. A vendor at Daily Market in Unit I of Bhubaneswar said they had to jack up the vegetables prices as they were procuring those from the wholesalers at higher rate.
On the other hand, a wholesaler said, “The markets in the two cities mostly depend on the supply from outside states as production of vegetables in very less in our state to meet the demand. We get the vegetables from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and even Maharashtra. The suppliers of those states point out poor production for weather condition for rise in the prices.”
Meanwhile, the Odisha government is yet to come out with any concrete solution for the problem. Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra said the government was looking into the problem to find a solution after a visit to the Unit I market on Tuesday.
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