BENGALURU: It has been over a fortnight since people have been unable to find out the exact rate of fruits and vegetables from the government, as the Horticultural Producers’ Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS) website has crashed.
The website - hopcoms.karnataka.gov.in - is essential not just for farmers to check prices, but also for buyers to check daily costs and price fluctuations. The website also played a vital role for many to plan out their daily or monthly budgets.
“I have been trying to access the website to know the HOPCOMS rates before heading to the nearest store, but it is not functional. But the website is not working,” said Shobha L, a resident of Malleswaram. Similarly, Revathi, a homemaker, said, “Fruits are cheaper at HOPCOMS outlets than what is sold by street vendors. It is especially useful during festivals like Janmashtami,” she said.
Taking advantage of the situation, other private portals are posting rates of fruits and vegetables on their websites, claiming that the price is the same as what HOPCOMS offers. However, the department is oblivious to this, and asserted that they have not tied up with any private agency.
The website crash was noticed by HOPCOMS officials during Varamahalakshmi festival. President AS Chandregowda told TNIE that there were server problems initially, and so the website had crashed. “It was restored a few days back, but again, due to technical issues, the website is down. It should be restored by Monday. There is no partnership with any firm to disseminate any data,” he confirmed.