Vegetable prices continue to soar in Rourkela

ROURKELA: In what may be called as ‘double trouble’ for consumers, the prices of onions and other vegetables continue to soar across the district. With onions selling at `40 per kg, the consumers are now feeling the pinch after prices of different vegetables soared between `40 and `100 per kg.

In such a scenario, officials of the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) department have once again linked the price rise to the problem of limited supply at the source point in Nashik in Maharashtra. “There are no reports of hoarding of onions by local wholesalers. We are monitoring the situation. If needed, onions will be sold through Government fair price shops,” Sundargarh Civil Supplies Officer (CSO) A Barik said. In July, when onion prices had jumped to `28 per kg, the department had opened 37 fair price shops across the city.

If onions were not enough to bring tears to the eyes of locals, vegetables added to their woes. While green peas were sold at `100 per kg, capsicum and carrot were   priced at `80 per kg at the markets across Rourkela on Sunday, sources said.  Pointed gourd, cauliflower, bean and seam were priced at `60 per kg each. Tomatoes and spinach were priced at `50 per kg, while brinjal, plantain, lady’s finger, ridge-gourd and bitter-gourd sold at `40 per kg. Ginger and garlic were  selling at `100 and 60 per kg, respectively, sources said, adding that the price of green chilli came as a surprise at `80 to `100 per kg.

Amid the soaring prices, sweet potatoes, cow-pea, pumpkin, radish, papaya, cucumber and some local varieties of greens were available for `20 to `30 per kg. Potatoes came as a major relief, selling at `10 per kg, sources added.  “Usually, by this time of the year, vegetable prices should have decreased. The crisis can be attributed to the lack of locally-grown vegetables in the markets. I hope the arrival of new vegetables to Rourkela city from Nuagaon, Bisra block, Kuarnmunda and Lathikata blocks of the district besides from adjacent pockets of neighbouring Jharkhand will bring down prices,” a local vendor, Subal Barik, said.