Mercury levels are slowly shooting up in the State. So are the prices of dal and vegetables in the market. The spiralling prices of red gram and black gram in the retail markets are hitting the monthly budgets of many residents.
In a span of 20 days, the prices of red gram shot up from Rs. 90 a kg to Rs.130 a kg and black gram increased from Rs. 95 to Rs.120 a kg for varied reasons. Retail traders attribute the increase in prices to escalating transportation costs and poor arrivals of stocks from other States.
Diesel prices were increased three times in the recent times. To make matters worse, truck drivers have jacked up transportation charges, citing Telangana government’s motor vehicle tax collection at State borders.
All these factors have cast an impact on the prices of pulses and dals, explains Ravindra Babu, a provision store owner.
From government maintained outlets, rythu bazars to plush malls, cutting across the categories, outlets have increased the prices of red gram and black gram drastically. The cascading effect influenced the prices of idly, dosa and other dishes in several tiffin centres as prices were increased by Rs. 2 to Rs.3 per dish.
“There is no option for us but to increase the prices. We cannot sustain losses for long,” says Venkata Ramana Rao, a tiffin centre owner.
It is not just dals, prices of few vegetables have also shot up considerably in rytu bazaars and malls. Rytu bazaar officials said that rise in prices was a common phenomenon during summer as the arrivals drop even as the managements of private malls increased the prices abnormally as compared to rytu bazaars.
