Navi Mumbai: Vegetables piled up at the wholesale APMC market in the last two days following a lockdown in the city. Retailers and street vegetable vendors did not turn up at the market. As a result over 300 trucks loaded with vegetables could not be offloaded.
Following the state government’s decision to shut all shops and remove street vendors following the outbreak of coronavirus, the street vendors selling vegetable didn’t reach the wholesale market in Vashi on Friday as well as on Saturday.
As per the APMC administration, on Friday around 850 trucks loaded with vegetables arrived in the market which is a record arrival. “The traders brought more vegetables to ensure that there should not be any scarcity in the market,” said Shankar Pingle, the newly elected director of the vegetable market in APMC. The Vashi APMC supplies vegetables to Navi Mumbai, Thane, Panvel, Palghar and Mumbai. In all these areas, street vendors have been removed.
Pingle said that since they have decided to shut down the market for two days—Thursday and Saturday—for sterilizing the market premises, they brought more vegetables in the market. “Since most of the street vendors are off-road due to complete lockdown, around 30 percent of the vegetables are lying unsold,” informed Pingle.
A lot of street vendors hailing mostly from North and East India leaving the city due to job loss and virus fear it is expected that vegetable prices may register a fall.
On Saturday, cauliflower which was being sold at Rs 40 per kg two days back is sold at Rs 20 a kilo. Similarly, the brinjal price has reduced from Rs. 30 to Rs.15 per kg.