The reasonable price of jaggery, the main ingredient in the preparation of sweet pongal, during Pongal festival in the retail market here has brought much cheer to local people.
The price of jaggery which remained at Rs.70 per kg only a couple of months ago has come down to Rs.40 to Rs.45 per kg in Tiruchi market.
The Tiruchi market has received about 100 loads of jaggery from the major manufacturing centres like Sevvaipettai in Salem, Erode, Perundurai, Paramathi Velur, Palani, and Odanchathiram in the last few days.
Usually, the Tiruchi market used to receive not less than 200 loads of jaggery to the meet the demand during Pongal season.
Sweet pongal is the main dish during the festival and cannot be avoided. People purchase jaggery, but in much less quantity, says R.Selvam, a wholesale jaggery trader at Gandhi Market.
The same views were echoed by Ponraj Ramesh, a small time grocery shop owner of Highways colony in the city.
