The prices of several vegetables, including green chilly, tomato, brinjal and pointed gourd, which had gone down a little last week, have shot up again with supplies from districts taking a hit because of the panchayat polls on Saturday.
Traders said there could be a further hike over the next few days.
On Sunday, green chilly sold at Rs 300 a kg and tomato at more than Rs 120 a kg at several markets across Kolkata following a shortfall in supply from other states, including Bihar.
As for tomatoes, the supply from Bangalore and Pune was negligible on Saturday.
The prices of these vegetables had gone down towards the middle of last week.
“The suppliers from outside, including Kaithar in Bihar, Bangalore and Pune, knew about the panchayat elections in Bengal and decided not to despatch green chilly and tomato fearing trouble,” said Kamal Dey, president of the West Bengal Vendors’ Association and a member of the government-appointed task force on vegetables.
“Some of the suppliers from other states instructed their drivers to stay put at the borders fearing blockades and spend the night on their trucks.”
Bengal has to depend on supplies from other states for some vegetables, including green chilly, ginger and tomato around this time of the year. For other vegetables, the domestic produce usually suffices.
Traders said just about five-six trucks reached the wholesale vegetable market in Sealdah on Saturday morning carrying around six-seven tonnes of green chilly and tomato each. Usually, double the number of trucks would arrive from other states.
As a significant number of Bengal’s farmers contested the panchayat elections, the supply of ridge gourd, pointed gourd, pumpkin, brinjal and bitter gourd from districts to the city’s retail markets was almost cut off on Saturday.
“We somehow managed to open the counters with leftover stock. There is no supply of home-grown vegetables in the local haats and markets in Chowbaga and Bhangar,” said Alim Khan, a vegetable retailer in Kasba. “The prices will rise even further over the next few days.”
Brinjal sold for Rs 150 a kilo in several markets on Sunday, up by almost Rs 30 compared with the middle of last week. Pointed gourd sold at Rs 60-70 a kilo, a rise by Rs 10 a kg compared with the price a few days ago.
“The bulk of pointed gourds reaching the city’s wholesale markets is sourced from Bongaon and Basirhat in North 24-Parganas and Karimpur and Tehatta in Nadia,” said Biswajit Roy, a vegetable seller in Jadu Babu’s Market in Bhowanipore.
“On Saturday, there was no supply. Some farmers may choose to operate on Monday but that may not be enough to meet the demand.”
With a total produce of 4,09,620 metric tonnes and a demand of 3,60,000 metric tonnes annually, Bengal remains a major supplier of pointed gourd to neighbouring states.
Over the last few weeks, as a significant number of farmers remained busy with the rural polls and supplies became erratic, the price of pointed gourd started rising gradually from Rs 30 a kg almost a month back to Rs 60-70 a kg on Sunday.
“The vegetable market will remain wobbly for the better part of this week, at least till Thursday,” said Samir Biswas, a vendor at the Gariahat market. “Once the results are out and the celebrations are over, the supply will normalise.”