It is Sunday morning, and Monda Market in Secunderabad is brimming with people, who come from far off places on their regular weekly trip to buy groceries.
However, since the last one month, shoppers have been facing a hard time with the prices of vegetables rocketing due to protests in the Andhra region, and has now taken a toll on consumers who inevitably have to bear the burden. If one takes a small trip across the market, he or she will understand as to why there are frustrated faces of retailers and customers everywhere, with both bargaining to no end. One of those faces is of V Venkatesh, who now has a big problem selling his produce of onions ever since the price per kilo touched Rs 55 from Rs 25 a month ago. “I used to sell at least five or six bags of onions on Sundays. Now I am lucky even if I can sell two or three,” he rues.
Each bag of onion contains about 50 kilos of the vegetable, and with his sales dropping by 50 percent, so has his income, which is a huge problem for Venkatesh who earns on a daily basis. “Sunday is the most important day as more people come here,” he mentioned. While he represents the situation of most sellers, customers have their own tales of woes to tell.
“I used to be able to buy a kilo of at least four or five vegetables with the money I get from my husband in a week. Now I need to choose between two, and that is excluding onions,” said an exasperated Pramila, a housewife, whose house is situated near Monda Market. P Gajanand, vice-president, Monda Market Retailers Association informed that on Sunday too about 30 percent less stock had arrived pertaining to cabbages, brinjals, ridge gourd, bitter gourd, lady’s fingers, and green chillies, which come from the Andhra region.
“If less stock comes again then the prices will go up again. We are also tired of all this. All we can do is just give our customers a discount to maintain goodwill,” explained his wife, who runs a vegetable stall in the market. PVS Shastri, a retired government employee is also tired of going around bargaining while purchasing vegetables for his household.