Vegetables do the disappearing act

VADODARA, Aug 3: Even as vegetables almost disappeared from the streets of Vadodara and all the 15 major vegetable markets stayed shut, o...

VADODARA, Aug 3: Even as vegetables almost disappeared from the streets of Vadodara and all the 15 major vegetable markets stayed shut, on Monday, the first day of the greengrocers8217; strike, consumer reaction was conspicuous by its absence.

The few vegetable vendors who made an appearance on the city roads, however, made a fast buck by selling vegetables at a whopping price. Potatoes and tomatoes sold between Rs 15 and Rs 20/kg, while lady8217;s fingers, falis and mooli went for at least Rs 5 more than their regular prices.

About the only sign of abnormality in food distribution were the long queues in front of all the seven 7 am-to-7 pm Kalpataru shops set up by Food and Civil Supplies Corporation. The stores did brisk business of Rs 6,000 to 7,000 each by afternoon.

Ravi Suratpur, Paresh Vaghela and Omprakash Raval, three consumers who lined up for vegetables at one of these stores, said that though the government initiative was praiseworthy, it should now consider supplying all vegetables, and not just onions and potatoes.

The government also decided to sell onions Rs 9 kg and potatoes Rs 8.50/kg through 50 selected fair price shops in the city from Tuesday, according to corporation regional managers J H Vasoya and his deputy K S Prasad.

The fair price shops that will double up as onions-potato outlets are the ones in Gorwa, Navayard, Sama road, Fatehgunj, Fatehpura, Karelibaug, Wadi and City wards, district supply officer Ashok Singh told Express Newsline, adding that all the senior officials were supervising the sale regularly.

A minor disturbance was reported at a Kalpataru shop in the Panigate area around noon, when some members of a political party tried to stone the shop. No business was reported in the Khanderao vegetable market. In the city alone, the traders are believed to have sustained losses of Rs 15 lakh for every day of the stir.

Story continues below this ad

Reiterating his demand, Sukhdevbhai Kachhia-Patel, vice president of the State-level federation of all the vegetable market unions, told Express Newsline that he had met Civil Supplies Minister Jaspal Singh but to no avail.