In the wake of the lockdown in Delhi due to coronavirus scare, 90 per cent of retail sellers of fruits and vegetables did not visit the Azadpur Mandi here on Tuesday to buy their daily requirements.
This resulted in low prices of fruits and vegetables throughout the day.
Those who did visit the wholesale fruits and vegetables market – said to be the biggest of its kind in Asia – did not find transport to ferry whatever they had bought to their destinations.
In many places across Delhi, fruits and vegetables were selling in retail at higher prices than normal even as their wholesale prices were on the lower side in the Azadpur wholesale market.
With truckloads of perishable commodities lying unsold in the absence of buyers, the wholesalers and ‘arhatiyas’ (commission agents) were apprehensive of financial losses.
A wholesale dealer in fuits and vegetables, Rajinder Sharma confirmed such a situation.
Even though the Delhi government announcing sealing of the national capital’s borders
with neighbouring states and only allowing essential commodities like milk, fruits and vegetables to be ferried in, the supplies from neighbouring areas to the Azadpur market are lesser.
Adding to the worries of wholesalers and ‘arhatiyas’ is the fact that supply chain of imported fruits and vegetables too has been affected due to the virus outbreak.
Since fruits and vegetables lying in the market were beginning to rot, they said that the government will have to chip in to redress the situation.
They demanded that curfew passes should be issued to retail sellers of vegetable and fruits in their designated areas of operations.
