NEW DELHI, November 3: Though the salt frenzy had ebbed considerably today, signs of the two-day madness were visible everywhere. While government consumer outlets had boards proclaiming the availability of salt, shopkeepers admitted that their salt stocks were over.At the Super Bazar outlet in Connaught Place, there were two sacks of salt lying next to the salt bin. Although the queues were not long, every shopper had at least one packet of sack in their hands. Many shoppers had even more. More than a salt shortage, Super Bazar has been hit by a scarcity of some pulses split urad and split black have disappeared from the outlet.According to senior officials there, the problem was created by the large-scale buying of pulses last week. ``The off-take was much higher than usual and since we have a complicated system of procuring, testing and selling of commodities, it will take a few days more to replenish the stock. However, there is no shortage of either pulses or spices''.Abundant supplies of pulses and spices were available at Kendriya Bhandar outlets and other shops. According to S.C. Sharma, supervisor at Kendriya Bhandar outlet in Rail Bhawan: ``As the board outside says, we have lots of salt available. There is no shortage of either spices or pulses. The only thing that we do not have is mustard oil''.Many shopkeepers, however, admit that over the past two days their stock of salt has depleted thanks to the over-buying of salt. Said Anil Kumar, an INA Market shopkeeper: ``We have ordered for more stocks of salt as we have sold all our supplies in the past two days. But salesmen have assured us that there is no shortage and we will have our supplies tomorrow''.Onion, on the other hand, continued to be sold at Rs 40 per kg in the open market. An angry exchange was witnessed at a Kaka Nagar Mother Dairy outlet, where residents had queued up for onions. The fight took place this afternoon when one of the women, stepped out of the queue to pick up her polythene bag, which had slipped out of her hand. When she came back, she found that someone else had taken her place. The acrimonious exchange soon turned violent and the local police had to be summoned.A similar scene was witnessed at the Mother Dairy outlet in Madangir. Some of the women there had a fight and other consumers joined in. The situation came to such a pass that the local police, including the lady police had to be summoned. The irritated shopkeeper closed shop after the incident.Meanwhile, this reporter got no answer at the much-hyped 24-hour helpline (3352841) between 9.15 and 9.45 p.m. The public can lodge complaints of hoarding, over-pricing and under-weighing at this number.
