Pricey plate overshadows poll talk

Baramulla, Sep 02: For Muhammad Ashraf, a labourer by profession, what was once a daily necessity has now become a luxury.

With essential vegetables like collard greens, beans, potatoes, and tomatoes now costing exorbitant amounts, feeding his family has become an uphill battle.

“I haven’t found work for the last two days because of the rain. We are working on building a new house, but the weather has stalled everything. When I went to the market, I was shocked by the prices of the essentials. It’s frustrating,” Ashraf said.

With elections around the corner, the issue of a surge in vegetable prices has annoyed the people here. Currently, beans are being sold at Rs 120 per kg, it’s another variety at Rs 240 per kg, green peas at Rs 160 per kg, okra at 100 Rs per kg, and onions at Rs 60.

The steep rise in prices has left many households struggling to afford even the most basic vegetables.

Locals here are frustrated over the wholesale market prices of these vegetables at Srinagar which is far less than the retail prices of vegetables especially in the rural areas.

Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, a resident blamed the authorities for their inability to check the disparity in the wholesale and retail market prices.

He said that he recently brought vegetables from the Parimpora vegetable mandi.

“There is at least 60 percent difference in the wholesale and retail prices of vegetables,” Bhat said. “I found a huge difference in the vegetable prices in the local market and at the Sabrina Mandi Parimpora Srinagar. Although little difference is understandable, a difference of 60 to 70 percent is nothing but an act of looting people.”

The residents here blamed the authorities for its inaction against the vegetable outlets for the price rise and said that people had been left at the mercy of these vegetable vendors who are responsible for this inflation.

Earlier, the authorities used to carry market checks to ensure that the prices of essentials did not increase.

However, the local authorities have not been indulging in any such exercise for a long time now.

The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Department which used to fix the vegetable prices and make these vegetable vendors accountable for the price rise are no longer intervening to check the vegetable price rise as they have no such legal authority after 2019.