After 4 days, Vallah mandi reopens

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 5

The vegetable market at Vallah was reopened after a gap of four days considering the need for fresh vegetables and to address the problem being faced by vegetable growers.

Earlier, the district administration had allowed the market to operate on all days of the week. But on April 1, the commission agents who act as a link between growers and retail sellers, had stopped the operations.

The huge rush at sabzi mandi had triggered the move as a large number of people had visited the place in addition to hundreds of vegetable shop owners and rhehri walas.

As a result of the move, farmers were unable to sell their produce and had appealed to the administration to resume work at the mandi or allow them to sell their produce in the city on their own. The administration has now allowed the mandi to operate from Monday to Friday. The mandi would remain closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

Lakhbir Singh Nizampura, president, Vegetable Growers’ Association, said: “It is a welcome move and would help farmers and consumers as well. The general public should avoid coming to the sabzi mandi as it gets crowded and then everybody faces problem.”

Meanwhile, the district administration is also issuing daily retail prices of vegetables to check overpricing by some shopkeepers during the ongoing lockdown.