With the rise in diesel cost, prices of vegetables and other provisions are set to skyrocket further, serving the common man’s platter a double blow during the pandemic.
Already, edible oil and vegetables have become dearer in the past one year since the lockdown was imposed during the first wave of COVID-19. Prices of edible oils have nearly doubled since last year, reportedly due to international price rise and heavy dependence on imports.
“Before the first lockdown, I remember buying sunflower oil for ₹95 per litre. Even two months ago, I bought it for about ₹120 a litre. Now, the price has gone up to ₹178 in the supermarket. The rise has been steep,” says K. Mamatha, a homemaker.
Similar is the price rise of groundnut oil and rice bran oil, while gingelly oil has spiralled to anywhere between ₹275 and ₹330 based on the brand due to pickle season.
With vegetable prices also showing an upward trend of late, the pockets of poor men have begun to shudder.
In Rythu Bazaars across the city, prices of veggies have gone up by 60% to 100% in the past one month, which are sure to make a big dent in the common man’s wallets.
At Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazaar, for example, the price of carrot per kg has gone up from ₹25 a month ago to ₹40 now; field beans from ₹28 to ₹60 per kg; okra (or lady’s fingers) from ₹18 to ₹35; green chilli from ₹23 to ₹40; bitter gourd from ₹21 to ₹35 and so on.
Outside the Rythu Bazaars, the prices are spiralling out of control. Lady’s finger, for example, is being sold at ₹75 a kilo, and brinjal at ₹60 a kg.
“Because we are wary of exposing ourselves to the crowded atmosphere of the Rythu Bazaars, we are forced to buy from the vending carts and paying a lot more. Taking advantage of the situation, they are charging more,” says Suneetha, a buyer.
However, the vendors differ. “We are not getting anything for less than ₹50-60 per kg at the wholesale markets,” says Anjamma, a vendor from Kothapet.
