Large numbers of people flocked to Rythu Bazaars in the city on Wednesday to purchase vegetables at the subsidised rates offered by the marketing department. The department has launched two different family packages of vegetables at affordable rates of Rs 49 and Rs 99 in an effort to control skyrocketing prices.
While six varieties of vegetables were offered in the under- Rs 49 package, 12 types of vegetables were made available in the under-Rs 99 package. The latter consists of 1 kg each of onion, tomato, potato, half-kg each of brinjal, carrot, ladies finger, coccinia, cabbage, 250 grams green chilli and two types of leafy vegetables. The other pack, priced at Rs 49, will have 1 kg each onion, tomato, half-kg each brinjal, potato, 250 grams green chilli and two types of leafy vegetables.
This is part of the government’s market intervention scheme. The facility is available to consumers in the five Rythu Bazaars located at Erragadda, Mehdipatnam, Kukatpally, Saroornagar and Falaknuma, which are run by the government. However, with the scheme confined to the five Rythu bazaars in the city and that too only between 8 am and 10 am, there’s a huge rush and the authorities have failed to meet the demand. The vegetable packages got exhausted in no time and many are forced to return empty-handed. It was disappointing for those who normally purchased vegetables at three times the rate in the retail market! The government had first launched this scheme in January 2011 as a “Sankranti gift”, when vegetable prices had soared.