| Lighter bags, heavier hearts: home, restaurant kitchens feel pinch of vegetable price rise | | |
Agencies
NEW DELHI, July 21: Those who couldn't buy fresh vegetables would smash open an onion, sprinkle salt and eat it with a roti. But even those days are gone with the humble onion just too expensive, says vegetable vendor Imad Khan, recalling the staple image of the poor in India.
About 10 km from the Sahibabad Sabzi Mandi in Ghaziabad where Khan sets up shop, homemaker Poonam Singh in Delhi's Mayur Vihar has not put tomatoes in any dish for almost a month, taking away an essential ingredient from her cooking.
Khan and Singh may be at different points on the socio-economic spectrum but sit on the same side of a graph that has put everyday vegetables out of the reach of many in Delhi-NCR.
While restaurateurs and home catering businesses are looking at how to absorb the extra costs and wondering whether they should hike their rates, home cooks are going for alternatives or just doing without.
"How can one make almost anything without onions, tomatoes or potatoes? Not that other vegetables are any cheaper, but these are the essentials for middle class families," Singh told PTI.
With the staples selling for more than double the rates just last month, vegetable bags are returning home lighter and hearts heavier.
Crop damage across states due to delayed rain is one reason for the skyrocketing prices of vegetables, including those in the gourd family, cauliflower and cabbage.
According to the daily retail report by the Department of Consumer Affairs on Friday, potatoes were selling at the national average of nearly Rs 40 per kg going up to Rs 93 per kg, onions at the maximum price of Rs 80 per kg and an average of Rs 44 per kg, and tomatoes at maximum rate of Rs 120 per kg with an average price of Rs 73 per kg.
Khan has been affected by the price rise from two sides - as a seller and consumer - and said the last few weeks have been difficult for business.
"I can still take home some vegetables from the wholesale market at a slightly cheaper rate, but people are hesitating to buy it from the handcart. They come, ask the price, make a face and go away. Prices of all vegetables, without exception, have soared in the last month," he said.
On Sunday, for instance, at a Mother Dairy retail store, beans were priced at Rs 89 per kg, ridge gourd or torai at Rs 59, cauliflower at Rs 139, capsicum at Rs 119, apple gourd or tinda at Rs 119, and eggplant at Rs 59.
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