Gurgaon: A fallout of the prolonged protests against the farming laws and Delhi Police heavily barricading border areas that Gurgaon residents won’t mind is the impact on vegetable prices, which have fallen sharply. Cauliflower, for instance, is selling at Rs 3.50 per kg at the weekly markets and mandis and tomato for as low as Rs 10 per kg.
This is because many Haryana farmers are selling their produce directly in the Gurgaon mandis instead of the main market at Delhi’s Ghazipur. Since several roads are blocked in the national capital, it has been difficult for them to reach Ghazipur, from where their produce is routed to states like UP, Punjab, Himachal and Rajasthan. But with truck movement severely disrupted because of the blockades — the UP Gate protest site is, in fact, right next to the Ghazipur mandi — farmers are opting to sell their produce in Gurgaon and cut their losses.
In fact, prices of almost all vegetables have come down by 50 to 75% in the past 20 days. Apart from the local vegetable markets, veggies on aggregator apps and in stores inside condominiums have also been selling at a low price.
According to farmers, apart from the blocked roads, the absence of a cold storage facility in Gurgaon is forcing them to sell their produce at a lower rate as they are unable to preserve the veggies. Usually farmers from Pataudi, Farrukhnagar, Nuh, Jhajjar and other nearby districts of Haryana sell their produce at the Ghazipur mandi. However the blockade of arterial roads has meant that sales of fruits and vegetables have shrunk close to 50% at the capital’s wholesale market for over a month now.
“Sellers from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are unable to visit the Ghazipur mandi, which has started to hurt their business. Vegetable sales are 50% less than a month ago,” said Anil Yadav, a member of the Azadpur mandi, and wholesaler at the Khandsa mandi in Gurgaon. “The detour has increased the transport freight and shortage of trucks has also affected our business. Transportation of onions, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, ginger, garlic to north Indian states has come down substantially due to the unavailability of trucks.”
Rajinder Kumar, a wholesaler, said vegetables are being literally dumped at the Gurgaon mandi. “Earlier, vegetables from the neighbouring districts were transported to Delhi. But nowadays, instead of selling their crop in the mandis there, farmers are dumping the same in the wholesale market in Gurgaon. The current climatic conditions are favourable for vegetables and thus a large number of farmers in the adjoining district have been bringing huge quantities of vegetables to the local markets.”
The rates of onions and potatoes have also seen a dip, being sold at Rs 25 per kg and Rs 15 per kg, respectively, on Wednesday. The price of radish and carrot is Rs 10 per kg, while peas and pumpkin are being sold for Rs 25.
Hemant Kumar, another wholesaler, said he has witnessed this sharp slump in vegetable prices for the first time. “Be it radish, carrot, onion or potato, prices of all vegetables have crashed. The oversupply in the market is only leading to drop in prices as buyers are less,” he said.
“At present, only 6,000 trucks are moving in and out of Delhi. Earlier this number used to be around a lakh. Not only vegetables, but prices of all essential goods have been impacted,” said Rajinder Kapoor, president of Delhi Goods Transport Association.
Meanwhile, consumers are a delighted lot. “This is the first time that I got five different veggies for less than Rs 40 a kg. I am surprised that I am able to purchase vegetables for such a low price in an expensive city like Gurgaon,” said Megha Chawla, a Sector 56 resident.