BHUBANESWAR : With the onset of the holy Kartik month, when a substantial chunk of households in the state turn to vegetarian diet, prices of vegetables have shot through the roof, posing serious problems for the common man.
On Friday, almost all vegetables in the retail markets were sold between Rs 70 and Rs 100 per kg, both in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Beans were the costliest of the lot, selling between Rs 100 and Rs 120. Medium-sized cauliflowers, which are available in plenty, were being sold at Rs 70 per piece.
Pointed gourds, bitter gourds and okra were being sold at Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kg, while brinjals cost Rs 70 and above, depending on the variety and quality. Similarly, tomato was charged Rs 50 per kg, and ridge gourds at Rs 70. Potatoes were also being sold at Rs 20 to Rs 22 per kg at retail points.
While vegetables like ridge gourd, okra, bitter gourd, cucumber, snake gourd and cauliflower to some extent are sourced locally from districts like Nayagarh, Puri, Athagarh, Dhenkanal, Angul, the rest like cabbage, beans, tomatoes, chillies, papaya, pumpkin are sourced from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
A member of the vegetable vendors’ association at Unit-1, Santosh Swain, said the consumption of vegetables goes up substantially during the month of Kartik as compared to other months. “Both within Odisha and outside, rainfall has affected the supply chain. Since less than the required quantity of vegetables are arriving in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar for the past few weeks, the prices have escalated,” he said.
A vendor at Cuttack’s Chatra Bazaar, Prabhat Satpathy, said the prices will come down if the rains stop. “Since the wastage is also high now, we are procuring less than the usual quantity,” he said. Usually, the retail prices of vegetables are 20 to 30 per cent more than the wholesale prices.