Veggie prices go north: EB raids markets

Kolkata: Enforcement Branch (EB) officials visited markets on Saturday morning to see whether the sellers were demanding arbitrary prices for the vegetables.

According to sources, the EB officials raided Salt Lake, Barrackpore and Kalibabur market in Howrah.

The officials interacted with buyers and asked the sellers about the reason behind sudden rise in prices. They also enquired about the wholesale markets.

EB officials carried out the raids to ensure that there was no hoarding and people were not charged above the maximum retail price. They collected the prices of essentials like rice, cereals and pulses in the past few days.

The EB raid in the markets comes four days after prices of vegetables shot up due exorbitantly. A day before Lakshmi Puja, the price of 1 kg of tomato touched Rs 100 in different markets. "Prices of all the vegetables have shot up by Rs 10 to Rs 20 due to short supply following heavy rains in different markets," said a vegetable vendor.