‘City has surplus stock of essential veggies’

There is no shortage of onions, potato and tomato in Delhi and the city has more than surplus stock, said the city administration on Sunday. The Commissioner of Food & Supplies S S Yadav said there is no shortage of these commodities. ‘Timely and concerted efforts of city administration to improve supplies and strict action against the hoarders and traders overcharging the consumers has led to improvement in supplies and stabilizing the prices of essential commodities,’ Yadav said. 

Consumer awareness through lakhs of messages daily on the mobile phones and regular advertisements have also led to dissemination of price information and has prevented cheating of consumers due to misinformation.

The average per day arrival of tomato in July this year has been 383 MT as compared to only 264 MT per day in July last year. The total arrival of tomato so far in the month of July has been 6892 MT which is 45 percent higher than the arrival during the corresponding period of last year. The average price of tomato in this month so far has been 54 percent lower than the price prevailing in July, 2013. 

Yadav said that the wholesale price of tomato on Sunday was between Rs 6 per kg to Rs 27.25 per kg while on the same day last year, it was between Rs 12 to Rs 37.5 per kg. The retail price of tomato is also substantially less this month as compared to July 2013.The average retail price of tomato in Delhi in July this year has been Rs 29 per kg as compared to Rs 56.2 per kg in July, 2013 which is almost 50 percent less than the prices in July last year. 

He also said that the arrival of onion is also much better as compared to last year. In the current month, 51,431 MT of onion has arrived 18 July which is 375 MT more than the arrival in the corresponding period of last year. The wholesale price of onion on July 18 varied between Rs 13.75 to Rs 25 per kg which is 9.5 percent less than the price on July 18, 2013. In the last one week, the average wholesale price of onions in Delhi has shown a decline by at least 5 percent as compared to the prices in the corresponding period of last year.

The department is keeping a strict vigil on prices of 22 essential commodities and is taking corrective action if the prices show any upward trend. The department has also warned the traders indulging in hoarding and in cheating consumers by overcharging and using faulty and uncertified weighing instruments of very strict action.