Medaram trip costs a bomb

Medaram (Mulugu): Heading to Medaram jatara? Don't forget to carry jaggery, coconut and a chick that may cost you a bomb at the Sammakka Saralamma jatara. Three weeks to go for the biennial jatara, the prices of commodities have already hit a sky high in Medaram. If the situation is like that even during the pre jatara obeisance, imagine the kind of robbery in the name of Almighty when the actual four-day jatara begins on February 16.

Notwithstanding the looming threat of new coronavirus variant omicron, Medaram has been witnessing a huge exodus of devotees for the last three weeks. It's understandable that devotees who want to avoid serpentine queues during the jatara days turn to Medaram early.

It's not uncommon that prices of paraphernalia related to jatara especially jaggery, also known as bangaram, coconuts, domestically reared cocks (country chicks) skyrocket in and around Medaram during the jatara. However, this time around the prices of these items started to point skywards.

"We will get everything here at jatara but the prices are terrible. I never saw such a fleecing in Medaram. A coconut is costing anywhere above Rs 60. The price of Jaggery has become dearer by more than 50 per cent. Normally, we get a country chick at a price of around Rs 320 per kilogram. It's now shot up to above Rs 500 a kg," a devotee, Valapudas Shyam, a photographer from Dargah, Kazipet, told The Hans India. "With the authorities yet to take measures to stabilise the prices, the traders have been fleecing the devotees. If the prices are like this, what would it be after the commencement of jatara, V Verender-Vijayalaxmi couple of Kazipet said.

Meanwhile, the price of toddy has also gone up. Devotees' liking to liquor and non-vegetarian food during a jatara is something that is inseparable. The liquor belt shops in villages around Medaram have also started to make hay by selling at exorbitant prices. "Selling liquor at maximum retail price (MRP) is something of a miracle," another devotee said.