Rising vegetable prices hit consumers in Coimbatore and Tiruppur
The Hindu
Prices of vegetables soared last week and left many consumers in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts with no option but to cut down on consumption.
Prices of vegetables soared last week and left many consumers in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts with no option but to cut down on consumption.
“It is not just vegetables, but even the price of eggs has gone up. We cannot do even basic cooking if the prices continue to be at this level,” said Dhanalakshmi, a domestic help, in the city.
The wholesale vegetable markets in Coimbatore that were closed on Thursday for Bakrid saw prices remaining high from Monday. “The prices had not reduced till Wednesday. This is a national problem and the prices are likely to remain high for some more days,” said M. Rajendran, president of TK Market Vegetable Merchants’ Association.
The situation was not different in vegetable cultivation and major trading towns in the district. At Mettupalayam, a place known for vegetable cultivation and wholesale trade, increase in the price of daily-use produces was a shock to many.
Retail price of tomato stood at ₹ 80 per kg on Thursday and small onion was sold at ₹ 80 per kg. Other items which saw a steady increase in price were ginger, green chilli, bitter gourd, carrot and radish that were sold for ₹ 270, ₹ 150, ₹ 80, ₹ 80, ₹ 60 per kg.
S. Basha, organiser of Namma Mettupalayam Forum, said that people had not experienced such a steep hike in the price of vegetables in recent times. “Production of several vegetables have been stopped in and around Mettupalayam as a large number of farmers have moved to banana cultivation,” he said.
In Pollachi, the price of broiler chicken stood at ₹ 260 per kg on Thursday whereas the rate was ₹ 300 on Sunday. Retail prices of vegetables per kg in Pollachi as of Thursday stood at ₹80-85 for tomato, ₹ 70 for small onion, ₹ 20 for onion, and ₹ 260 for ginger.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.