Vegetable prices shoot up in Siliguri after N Bengal deluge

Darjeeling: The North Bengal flood has started taking a toll on the vegetable markets in Siliguri. With stocks depleting, prices have skyrocketed.

The Siliguri Regulated Market, which is the largest wholesale vegetable and fruit market, cuts a sorry figure. Business has come to a near standstill with trucks carrying vegetables not coming in owing to the floods.

Vegetables from all over the country come to this market from where they make their way to different markets in this region, Sikkim and the North East. "Very few trucks are arriving with vegetables. In some cases, vegetables are being transshipped to the affected areas. There is acute shortage of vegetables. All this has resulted in price of vegetables shooting up," stated Ranjit Kumar Gupta, a vegetable wholesaler.

The price of green chilli has shot up to Rs 80 per kg in the wholesale market. Green chilli usually sells at Rs 20 a kg. Onion Rs 30 a kg, tomato Rs 70 a kg while bottle gourd is being sold at Rs 50 a kg.

"If trains and trucks do not ply for the next seven days, then there will be an acute shortage," added Gupta. Usually around 200 trucks come and go in the Regulated market. Now, there are hardly any trucks. This market does not have any cold storage facility hence whatever comes is sold. There is no system of stocking up. With the wholesale market affected, the retail markets and the customers have started feeling the pinch.

"What can we do if there is hardly any vegetable in the wholesale market owing to the floods? Even the local sellers are not coming to the market as all their vegetables have been destroyed in the floods," stated Gobindo Das, a vegetable seller at the Champasari market.

It is a tough time for the public. "The price of vegetables has doubled and in some cases, shot up three times. If the situation does not improve, we are in for a major crisis," stated Ranjit Sinha, a local resident.

Around 4 lakh 10 thousand people have been affected in the North Bengal floods. Though train services from Malda onwards to North Bengal and the North-East has been disrupted, North Bengal State Transport buses have started plying from Thursday from Kolkata to Siliguri taking a detour through Raiganj.