Prices of some vegetables, like green chillis, dipped marginally on Friday amid apprehensions that the break in farm work and marketing because of the panchayat polls will trigger another surge in the coming days.
By Friday evening, the number of goods vehicles reaching the city’s wholesale markets — the biggest of them is Koley Market in Sealdah — from the neighbouring districts had dropped by 40 per cent.
Several traders said a significant number of vegetable vendors reaching the markets from South 24-Parganas, Nadia and North 24-Parganas did not turn up with their stock on Friday.
“Close to 10,000 vegetable vendors visit Koley Market every day in two halves — morning and evening. At least 60 small trucks carrying vegetables reach the market. Till Friday evening, there was a drop of 35-40 per cent,” said Kamal Dey, president of the West Bengal Vendors’ Association and a member of the government-appointed task force to rein in vegetable prices.
“This is likely to have an impact on the retail markets,” he said.
A bulk of vegetables like brinjal, ribbed gourd, pointed gourd, pumpkin, papaya and okra reach Kolkata from the districts. With the panchayat polls scheduled on Saturday and the results on Tuesday, several retailers said the price of vegetables will continue to fluctuate on the higher side at least till Wednesday.
On Friday, green chillies sold for Rs 200 a kilo against Rs 280 the day before. Pointed gourd sold for Rs 60 a kilo like before while the price of brinjal slid to Rs 100 a kilo from Rs 120 a kilo. The price of ginger at Rs 250 a kilo and tomatoes at Rs 110 a kilo remained unchanged on Friday. Bitter gourd sold for Rs 80 a kilo compared to Rs 100 a day before while ridge gourd was available for Rs 70 a kilo against Rs 80 on Thursday.
“The price of green chillies came down because of supply reaching the wholesale markets from Katihar in Bihar from Thursday afternoon onwards. But prices of the home-grown vegetables will start fluctuating from Saturday,” said Biswajit Roy of Nemai Vegetable Shop in Jadubabu bazar in Bhowanipore.
Wholesalers receiving vegetables from vendors in the districts said the farmers have said the next few days will be erratic till the rural poll results are out and the celebrations are over by Wednesday.