If you are visiting a mall or supermarket in the city to buy vegetables think twice before stepping in as you may end up burning a hole in your pockets. When compared to prices of vegetables offered in Rythu Bazaars, you may have to shell out more than double the price for the veggies.
The provision stores in residential colonies and pushcart vendors on roadsides too have their own price structure which falls between that of malls and rythu bazaars. For instance, a kg of tomatoes are offered for Rs. 6 in Rythu Bazaars, while malls and supermarkets charge Rs.12 for a kg of tomatoes.
Same is the case with carrots, cabbage, ladyfingers and other vegetables. In Rythu Bazaars, a kg of carrots is offered for Rs.14, a kg of cabbage for Rs.6 and a kg of ladyfingers for Rs.12. The same is priced at malls and supermarkets at Rs. 26, Rs. 13 and Rs.26 respectively.
“In the pretext of freshness and hygiene, malls fleece buyers. It is only the comfort of buying vegetables in the close vicinities that drives buyers to visit malls. On any given day, I would prefer Rythu Bazaars over malls and supermarkets,” says Venkateswara Rao, a visitor at Swaraj Maidan Rythu Bazaar.
Mobile rythu bazaarsTaking a cue from Hyderabad, authorities here too wanted to introduce mobile rythu bazaars offering fresh vegetables in residential colonies. These mobile bazaars on vans would be driven to different localities daily to offer vegetables at doorstep for households. But for some reason, the plans did not take off till date.
“We are operating a mobile Rythu Bazaar in Patamata and there is a proposal to operate at least two more but things got sidelined as higher authorities are occupied with election-related work. Hopefully once the new government is formed, more mobile Rythu Bazaars will hit the roads,” claims a senior official of marketing department.
