‘Fruit, vegetable prices may shoot up’
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, May 2: After remaining functional throughout the lockdown, chaos prevailed at Parimpora Fruit Mandi as the administration has now started regulating its functioning to prevent spread of Coronavirus.
Being one of the biggest Mandi in Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of trucks full of essentials reach there every day. However, the administration has set a minimum time slot from 8 am to 12 in noon for all the activities in the market.
A long queue of trucks loaded with fruit and vegetables were queuing up outside the market on By-pass since last night and were allowed inside the market at 8 am. However, the retailers who buy fruits and vegetables from the market were not allowed to go inside with their load carriers. Only people with proper gear on foot were allowed inside the market leading to chaos.
“It is very difficult for us. I buy 500-600 kilogramme fruit daily and today it was very difficult for me. My load carrier was not allowed inside and I had to carry the fruit on my shoulder for around one km. I was able to buy few items only. It is better for administration to close the market”, said a retail fruit dealer Ali Mohammad from Srinagar.
The traders at the Mandi told Excelsior that under normal circumstances, the Mandi remains open for at least 15 hours a day, but the same has been curtailed to a mere four hours which is not sufficient.
They also said that in these four hours, they have to unload the goods, sell the same to other dealers and then load the goods again; apart from taking other precautions. Even the trucks that reach the Mandi early in the morning, sometimes past midnight have to wait till 8 am.
“These trucks have to wait till the Mandi is opened at 8 in the morning and within 4 hours everything has to be carried out; it adds to the crowd,” Bashir Ahmad Bashir, president of The New Kashmir Fruit Association told Excelsior.
He said that fixing of working hours to the extent of only 4 hours is not enough and will create acute shortage of these essential items in the markets with the result the general public will face an acute shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables.
He said that the Mandi caters to the needs of almost entire North Kashmir, parts of central Kashmir and even Ladakh and that the administration has to consider that aspect of it. “With the limited business that we are allowed to do, the prices for sure are going up,” he said.
As per numbers, out of 4 hours for which the Mandi remained open, the actual business was carried out for not more than 2 hours. Further, the business carried out at the Mandi on Saturday is stated to be 10-20 percent of what it used to do in actuality.
“There is a need for increasing the timing for which the Mandi will remain open; traders from other districts should be able to get it in and so should the retailers from Srinagar-the Mandi should be opened from 4 in the morning,” Anil Kumar, a trader at Parimpora Mandi told Excelsior.
The traders in the Mandi have ensured that those dealing with the business in the Mandi wear full protection gear and are making sure that they are following the guidelines with regard to adhering to social distancing measures.
The less available time is also telling upon the necessary measures that are to be undertaken amid COVID-19 outbreak such as social distancing.
The traders told Excelsior that during the short period of working of 4 hours, the maintenance of social distancing appears to be impossible which is essentially required in view of the threat of COVID-19.
The traders, while appealing to the administration said that the enormity of the Mandi and the demand supply should be taken into consideration and the Mandi should be allowed to function-with all measures undertaken-from 4 am to 12 in noon.
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