Election parties, weddings push vegetables out of residents’ reach

With the zila parishad and block samiti candidates organising meal parties for their supporters, fresh vegetable have been further pushed out of the common resident’s reach as prices had already soared due to increased demand on account of the ongoing wedding season.

Prices are expected to continue looking north till the conclusion of the winter festival season following Lohri and Basant.

The wide gap between demand and supply was cited to be the major reason behind the rise in the prices of green vegetables in the wholesale market here as heavy rains during the growing season, spanning September-October, had significantly reduced the yield.

Acknowledging that consumption of green vegetables had risen due to the wedding season, Bhoj Raj Sharma of Gautam Caterers said several candidates contesting Panchayati Raj Institutions elections had chosen to organise lunch and dinner parties for their supporters.

The wholesale prices have gone up by 15-20 per cent.

Mohammad Yameen, a commission agent at the Malerkotla Vegetable Market, said the prices of green vegetables had soared unusually this year contrary to the common trend of fall in prices during winter.

“Though increased demand due to the wedding season used to be compensated with higher yield, heavy rains during the growing period resulted in a lower yield this time around,” Yameen said.

A street vendor, Mohammad Shamshad, said demand for peas, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, ginger, garlic, coriander, lemon, capsicum, green chilli, okra, radish, onion, tomato, potato, cucumber and beetroot had increased significantly during the past few days, justifying the price hike.

Prices of garlic, ginger, okra and capsicum are currently fluctuating around Rs 100 per kg, while green chillies and lemons are available at Rs 80 per kg. Peas are selling at Rs 60 per kg, tomatoes at Rs 50 per kg, carrots, cucumbers, beetroot, brinjal, cauliflower and pumpkin fluctuate around Rs 40 per kg.