Households cut corners to tackle veggie price rise

By Awiral Grover and Ridham Arora
CHANDIGARH: Households across Tricity are feeling the pinch as vegetable prices continue to rise and families try to make amends by opting for low-priced vegetables.
A TOI team went around Grain Market, Sector 26, and find out the costliest vegetables and price changes. Tomatoes, ridge gourd, capsicum and onions continue to be the most highly priced.
While tomato continues to fluctuate between Rs 15 and Rs 40 per kilo, capsicum has touched the Rs 120-perkilo mark. Onion is costing Rs 30 per kilo, while beans are priced between Rs 60 and Rs 80 per kilo. Ridge gourd’s price has risen by three times and is at Rs 60 per kilo, compared to Rs 20 last week.
Bottle gourd is no better and is priced at Rs 80 per kilo.
Vegetable wholesalers blame the price rise on shortage in supply of tomatoes, onions and ridge gourd. Ram Karan Verma, a wholesaler at Sector 26, said, “The supply of tomatoes, onions and ridge gourd continues to decrease; their prices are expected to rise farther in near future.”
Ladyfinger and potato are priced at Rs 60 and Rs 30 per kilo, respectively. “We have been gradually decreasing the consumption of vegetables as prices have continued to increase,” said Jaswinder Kaur, a Chandigarh resident who came to the Sector 26 market in search of better-priced vegetables. The farmers’ strike at the start of this month has also to a shortage of stock in the market.