Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 23: Amid Corona pandemic, the woes of common masses have doubled as on one side many people lost their jobs in private sector due to closure of several small and big business houses whereas on the other hand, prices of essential commodities including vegetables, fruits and pulses are rising sharply.
The rise in prices of vegetables, fruits and pulses has broken the common man’s backbone. Almost all vegetables, fruits and some pulses have gone out of the common man’s reach and there seems to be no immediate respite for the people from price inflation.
In retail markets, the beans and tomatoes are being sold at Rs 60-80 per kg, peas Rs 180 a kg, cauliflower Rs 60, brinjal Rs 40, ladyfinger Rs 30-40, garlic Rs 250, ginger Rs 100-120 and mushroom Rs 30 a packet while potato and onion which are the 1st and 2nd most consumed vegetable in J&K are available at Rs 40-45 and Rs 45-50 per kg, respectively.
Similarly, the prices of fruits have skyrocketed. The seasonal fruits like apple and mausami (sweet lemon) are being sold at Rs 60-80 per kg and Rs 60-70 per kg respectively, pomegranate Rs 80-100, banana Rs 50-60 per dozen, pear Rs 120-150 per kg and coconut Rs 50-60 per piece.
When we talk about pulses, there is a surge of Rs 10 per kg in black gram, white gram and urad in last few months while the mustard oil is being sold at Rs 135 per litre, 15 rupees more than earlier. However, there has not been any hike in prices of rice, wheat flour and other pulses.
Interacting with this correspondent, an employee of a private bank said, “Be it mustard oil, pulses, vegetables or fruits, the skyrocketing prices of all these essential commodities has increased my monthly budget by over 40 per cent when compared to last year while our salaries have been cut by 50%. The potato and the onion, which usually available at Rs 10-20 Rs per kg is now being sold at Rs 40 and Rs 50, respectively. If steps are not taken by the authorities concerned to bring down the prices of the essential commodities, the common man will have to eat chapattis with salt or pickle only.
A retired Government teacher said, “I went to purchase some fruits in the market yesterday but the cost of every fruit was so high that I had to return with only ½ kg of apple. All the fruits were being sold either at the rate of Rs 60 per kg or more and prices of some fruits were even higher than Rs 100 per kg”.
“Today, I purchased some pulses from a retailer in Kanak Mandi and my bill was around Rs 4500. But, earlier for the same list of groceries, I used to pay Rs 3700,” said an auto driver, adding while the expenses on essential commodities have increased due to soaring prices their income per month has come down by half.
Speaking to Excelsior on soaring prices of vegetables and fruits, Subhash Chander Sharma, president, Vegetable & Fruit Mandi Parade, said there seems to be no immediate respite for the people from price inflation. In past 3-4 weeks, prices of fruits and vegetables have risen two or three times.
“Prices of vegetables like tomato and beans usually go up during three-months of monsoon – July, August and September but this time, hike has been witnessed even in potato and onion, besides other vegetables and now these vegetables have gone out of common man’s reach,” he said, adding, due to excessive rains in the month of August in central India, many vegetable and fruit crops have been damaged due to which such steep rise was witnessed in their prices.
Similar views were expressed by Surinder Singh, president, Vegetable and Fruit Mandi Narwal. He said even seasonal fruit like Apple is being sold at a price of Rs 60-80 per kg and guava Rs 40-60 per kg. “Wholesale prices of vegetables have increased sharply in the past one month due to rains and flood-like situation in many parts of the country,” he said.
Singh said that prices of most of the vegetables like tomato are fluctuating between Rs 50 to Rs 80 per kg for last one month. “On a day if more number of trucks with vegetables or fruits reach Mandi, the prices go down by some extent but the other day when few trucks arrive, the prices again rises,” he added.
However, the experts attributed soaring prices of some pulses and mustard oil with shortfall in crop production. “The production of mustard this year reduced by half due to which the prices of mustard oil has flared up. In May, the price of mustard oil was Rs 120 per litre and now it is Rs 135 per litre,” said Deepak Gupta, general secretary, Ware House Traders Association.
Similarly, he said the prices of white and black chana (gram) and Urad has increased by Rs 10 per kg and now they are being sold at Rs 60 and Rs 70 per kg, respectively. He said in the coming days, there may not be any respite from the inflation and prices may further go up due to gap in demand and supply.
Anup Mittal, president, Kanak Mandi Traders’ Association, attributed the price rise of pulses to low production, Monsoon and procurement of medium quality pulses by Government of India for distribution among poor. Mittal said there is shortage of medium quality pulses in the market due to procurement by Government of India while the demand is same as was earlier. He said as on date only good quality pulses are available in the market and obviously their prices will be a bit high.
On mustard oil, he said during Corona pandemic, people avoid purchasing refined oil due to which the demand of mustard oil rose while the production of mustard this year was very low. “So, due to huge gap between demand and supply, the prices of mustard oil are increasing day by day,” Mittal added.
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