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Rain rain go away, we want vegetables cheap, moan Bombayites

Rains may have brought glad tidings, but they have made vegetables exorbitant in Bombay.

Onions, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, French beans, cauliflower, lady-finger, green chillies and corriander leaves… you name it, they are all up there, at unreachable heights, so to say.

For instance, onions and potatoes sell for Rs 20 a kilogram, coriander leaves and garlic cost at Rs 45. Vegetables are in the Rs 40 to Rs 50 range. The scene is so due to external factors like the cyclone in Gujarat, unseasonal rains in Maharashtra and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation's anti-hawkers' zone which has been implemented recently.

The Agriculture Produce Market Committee, the largest supplier of onions and potatoes to Bombay and its suburbs, has held its wholesale rates steady, but when the commodities reach the city, the prices usually rise. Onions are usually imported from within the state, mainly from Nashik and Pune. The prices range from Rs 700 to Rs 850 per quintal. The actual selling price ought to be Rs 8 per kg but is actually sold at three times this price. The wholesale traders say they are not to blame, so do the small-time traders and vendors.

Traders attribute these unreasonable rates to the cyclone in Gujarat which apparently has upset supplies. Unseasonal rains have also caused the production to drop. But the fact is Gujarat does not export vegetables to the city, making the claim seem baseless.

A little research shows the rates go up mainly after a commodity leaves the wholesale market for the small markets. Traders and vendors charge customers according to their whims and fancies, which is why the rate of a vegetable varies from locality to locality.

Vendors claim the BMC's anti-hawkers policy keeps the latter from local railway stations and bridges, affecting sales to commuters, especially women. It is suspected that traders are resorting to hoarding.

The customer, feeling the pinch, is urging respite. Chhaya Naik, a Bombay housewife, says, ''We are really hit hard by the inflation in vegetable prices. The state government should check the problem.''