Vegetable prices may dip

Traders at Azadpur mandi were earlier apprehensive that the ongoing protests would lead to low supply of items as major highways were blocked.File Photo

If the prices of fruits and vegetables in Delhi are affected at all due to the protests by the Jats, it shall only have a declining effect. In the absence of purchasers for truckloads of these perishable commodities arriving at the city’s mandis, there is now an abundance of stock in the Capital as compared to the usual demand.

Traders at Azadpur mandi, Asia’s largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market, were earlier fearful that the ongoing protests by the Jat community would lead to low supply of items as major highways from Haryana were blocked. But the reverse of what was expected happened on Monday as large quantities of supplies that arrived at the mandi remained unsold.

“We had buyers only from Delhi and the UP side today. A major chunk of purchasers who come from the Haryana side, from areas like Sonipat, Panipat and Bhiwadi, have given the mandis a miss due to the ongoing protests,” said Mahender Sanpal, president of the APMC.

Traders from various cities falling within 100-200 kilometers of Delhi come to the Azadpur mandi for large-scale stocks. It is because of this that prices of fruits and vegetables are likely to fall in Delhi, while the rates may go up in Chandigarh, Rohtak, and other parts of Haryana. In Chandigarh, wholesale prices of potatoes have increased from Rs. 5 per kg to about Rs. 20, Mr. Sanpal explained. “In Delhi, wholesale prices of garlic have fallen from Rs. 80 to Rs. 60. A truck of green chillies, which is usually sold for Rs. 5 lakh was sold for only Rs. 50,000. Most of the items have rotten, so they are being sold at throw away prices,” added Mr Sanpal.

Speaking about supplies to the mandis, APMC member Rajender Sharma said that only trucks coming directly from Haryana were hit. “Only 5-10 per cent of the supplies have been affected as trucks from Haryana, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir were unable to enter Delhi,” Mr. Sharma said. Several trucks managed to come to the Capital from that side despite the protests as transporters diverted the route to western UP. Another trader informed that around 500 trucks were stuck at various points including the Kundli border, Panipat and Sonipat.

Several trucks managed to come to the Capital

as transporters diverted the route