Cost of fishes, veggies & other essentials pinch pockets

kolkata: Rise in the prices of fishes, vegetables and other essential commodities pinch the common man's pockets hard on the eve of Bhaiphonta.

Fish-loving Bengalis are also facing hardships as the prices of fishes have soared recently.

Many people had to cut their budget due to the skyrocketing price of all commodities. On Wednesday, in most of the city's markets the Hilsa weighing 800 grams to 1.2 kgs was sold at a price anything between Rs 1500-2000. Small size fishes weighing below 1 kg were available at around Rs 1200-1400.

Prices of fishes weighing up to 1.5 kgs remained at around Rs 2200-2300. People had to pay around Rs 2,300 for a Hilsha of a decent size.

Tiger prawn (bagda chingri) was sold at around Rs 800-1000 per kg in Manicktala market on Wednesday while Malaysian Prawn were sold at Rs 600-800 per kg. Bhetki fish was sold at Manicktala market at around Rs 700 per kg and Topshe fish at Rs 700-800 per kg, Parshe 400-500 per kg and Pabda Rs 500-600 per kg.

The cost of vegetables has also increased ahead of Diwali. The entire month of October has seen hike in the costs of daily products in the retail market across the city.

The first increase had taken place ahead of Durga Puja while the second surge occurred during the Lakshmi Puja. The third hike in retail prices of the commodities took place ahead of Kali Puja and Diwali.

The cost of brinjal has gone up to Rs 80 per kilogram. The price of onions has also been on a steady rise. The cost of onions had increased from Rs 40 to Rs 45 after October 10. Currently, in various pockets of the city, it has gone over Rs 40.

Rabindranath Koley, a member of state government's task force said that the rise in the cost of vegetables ahead of festive days is not an unprecedented incident. The cost will decrease by next week, he said. The task force along with police often conducts raids at different markets to ensure that there is no hoarding.