Pune: Prices of grocery items shoot up; people forced to pay more
Indu Bhagat
Pune, May 13, 2020: Grocery and food retailers are responding to an unprecedented demand that strains the entire market rates. There has been a considerable hike on prices of grocery and other food commodities. The shopkeepers are selling most grocery items, i.e wheat flour, pulses, edible oil, and food grain to heavy prices.
Most of the shopkeepers say that “Delivery of food-grains happens on alternate days. We can’t identify which vehicle belongs to whom and whose delivery is happening when. And commodities became scarce due to panic-buying and hoarding, triggering a price rise. There are no fresh supplies and migrant labourers have been heading home in most parts of the country.”
Grocery stores in Pune are selling basic commodities double the price. Most people are complaining that they have to pay almost 20% more for whatever goods are available in the market. COVID19 has hit the Indian economy and thus wholesale markets are not any different. The wholesale market has also surge their rates. Whole wheat flour (atta) saw a rise of Rs 50 on 10 kgs ‘besan’ rose by Rs 10-12 a kg. Prices of edible oil too rose by Rs 5 per kg. Retailers, as well as wholesalers, cite a shortage of supplies from distributors. “The supply of ‘atta’ and ‘besan’ is low, and whatever is arriving is available at a higher price”, says Vishnu who owns a shop in Viman Nagar.
The need for local Kirana stores for food-grains has increased significantly. But Kirana stores have very limited capacity in terms of storing and packaging food grains for much larger crowds. These kind of problems are pushing the price up. There is no clarity yet how the state government is going to deal with the situation.
