DIBRUGARH, June 24 � The prices of vegetables have gone up to scary heights in the city here with most household budgets hit hard this season. From the countryside dhekia (fiddlehead ferns) to the all-time available carrot, the prices have soared up and are showing no signs of abating.
Except for dangbodi (yardlong beans), pumpkins, jika (ridge gourd), dhunduli (snake gourd) and kunduli (ivy gourd), most of other vegetables are brought from Kharupetia, Shillong and elsewhere, Vinod Shah, a local vendor of Chowkidinghee daily market said. However, the prices of the vegetables, whether local products or not is almost the same.
The costliest is the carrot, whose wholesale price is Rs 100 per kg. Local bhat kerela (teasle gourd) and local dangbodi is being sold at Rs 60 per kilogram and Rs 40 for the outstation crop. Ladies finger, kunduli, jika, dhunduli, brinjal, bitter gourd, papaya etc., are being sold at Rs 40 per kilogram while squash vegetable brought from Shillong is being sold at Rs 60 per kg. The price of tomato is between Rs 60 to Rs 80, depending upon the quantity purchased. Vendors have been selling three bunches of locally available dhekia for Rs 20.
While most of the vendors attribute the price rise to the non-availability of local products, a section say that even if markets were supplied with local products, they come through middlemen. The retailers get the locally produced vegetables from the middlemen.
These relay system in the market increases the prices at every level, Shah said.
The surging price of vegetables along with rise in the cost of other essential commodities is making life difficult for the common people.
�We are finding it very difficult to cope with the continuous rise in the prices of all essential commodities. As we cannot afford to spend, we have reduced our intake of vegetables because we have to spare money for other necessities as well,� Jharna Dutta, a housewife of a tailor here said.
