Lucknow: Vendor hires bouncers to keep tomatoes safe

Lucknow: Amid the recent spike in tomato prices, a vegetable vendor in Varanasi took the trouble of hiring bouncers to protect his precious perishables. “I have hired bouncers because the tomato price is too high,” the vegetable vendor, Ajay Fauji told PTI.

Fauji also said that people had been “indulging in violence and even looting tomatoes”, adding that he had hired the bouncers because he didn’t “want any arguments”.

Tomato prices surged across North India this week, with wholesale prices of the staple of traditional Indian cuisine surging 288 per cent in a month to a high of Rs 140 per kg. Many were forced to cut back on consumption, with retail prices surging even higher.

Fauji said that the tomatoes were selling “for Rs. 160 per kg” and that the customers were buying only 50 to 100 grams. The vegetable is being sold at Rs 129 per kg in some Delhi markets and Rs 150 per kg in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad. In Jharkhand, too, tomato prices surged considerably.

Retail tomato prices have shot up to Rs 155 per kg across major cities in the country due to the supply disruption caused due to rain in the producing region, as per the official data. In metros, retail tomato prices were ruling in the range of Rs 58-148 per kg, with the highest in Kolkata at Rs 148 per kg and lowest in Mumbai at Rs 58 per kg. The wholesale price of tomatoes in Chennai too doubled from Rs 40 per kg last week to Rs 80-90 per kg now.

This comes as recent heavy rainfall in southern states has pushed up the prices of vegetables, especially tomatoes which were being sold at alarming retail rates of Rs 100-120 per kg last week. The government blames the higher prices of tomatoes on a lean production season when monsoon rains disrupt transport and distribution.