Some vegetables like tomato and drumsticks (sajne data) touched Rs 100 a kg. Brinjal soared to Rs 80 a kg. Green chillies, particularly the Beldanga variety, were sold at Rs 200 a kg. It is mainly due to semi-functional wholesale markets and non-functional \u2018haats\u2019 in the rural Bengal from where wholesale markets source their items for trade. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-472617,msid-77189037\/77189037.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBecause of weekend disruptions in the supply chain, a large number of vendors preferred to skip business on Sunday and those, who were there, tried to sell old stocks in a bid to clear what they had carried forward from Friday. The price, however, remained very high and vendors said that fresh stocks were due to arrive in the markets on Monday.
Vendors have also prepared a procurement routine to adjust to the staggered lockdown regimen that the state is adopting. Not only vegetables, buyers were also upset about the quality and variety of fish available on a Sunday. At Lake Market, where the demand for tiger prawns soars on Sundays, the availability was poor. Retailers complained that supplies were not coming in from North 24 Parganas and Midnapore.
Only the small variety of prawns were available and sold at Rs 350-400 a kg, up from the usual Rs 270 a kg. Most buyers had to buy rohu and katla at a steep price. \u201cCan you imagine a Sunday market where sellers are sitting with such a little variety? I wanted to buy pomphret, but most sellers didn\u2019t have it. Those who did, had a few pieces of the bigger variety left that were sold at Rs 750 a kg, up by nearly Rs 100,\u201d, rued Chaitali Bagchi, a retired banker who lives on Fern Road. In case of rohu and katla, the prices were up by at least Rs 80-Rs 100 a kilo.
The availability of hilsa was another sore point across markets. \u201cIt\u2019s the height of monsoons and you are still getting the 500-600 gram varieties that are selling at Rs 900 a kg,\u201d said Sandip Banerjee, a liaison executive with a real estate brand, who lives on Harish Mukherjee Road.
People complained about the unavailability of Chandramukhi variety of potatoes on Sunday. The Jyoti variety too was sold at Rs 30 a kg.
Most fruit sellers had vanished from the markets on Sunday. \u201cThe staggered lockdown has affected movement of truckloads of fruits because they are being stopped at various locations. Price of majority of mango varieties has soared beyond Rs 100 a kg,\u201d said Anwar Sheikh, a fruit seller at New Market. <\/div>\n