Nana Patekar’s iconic dialogue ‘Aloo Le Lo, Kandhe Le Lo’ from the cult film Welcome, remains etched in our memories. And now its high time we go down memory lane, and actually take these words seriously, as the prices of vegetables in the region has just skyrocketed. So much so, that onion prices have reached around ₹100 per kg in Bengal. And onions are actually making the nation cry. Earlier this week, the East Midnapore district in West Bengal witnessed a unique onion theft. A gang of thieves broke into a vegetable shop in the area, and left with 3 bags filled with onions, leaving the cashbox and other items untouched.
What’s In It?
The owner of this vegetable shop, Akshay Das to borrowed money from his friends to purchase 100 kgs of onions. In order to keep up with the rising onion prices, he decided to purchase 100 kgs of onions and store it in his shop lest the price shoots up any further. When he entered his shop on Wednesday morning, he saw the lock of his door broken. He opened the wooden door, entered his shop and was quite surprised to find everything untouched but bags of onions, worth ₹50,000 were missing, besides some garlic and ginger.
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Akshay Das stated to a reputed news agency, that surprisingly his cashbox remained untouched. He exclaimed that they didn’t even take a single paisa from his cashbox. The thieves apparently came with a vehicle and went away with onion bags. Meanwhile, the West Bengal government is putting efforts to procure the staple vegetable, onions from Rajasthan. the demand for onions in West Bengal is met by supplies from Akola and Nashik in Maharashtra, where at least 70% of the onions of the state comes from there. And this year the untimely rains have adversely affected the supply chain, leading to an unparalleled hike in prices. The minister for food processing industries and horticulture, Andur Rezzak Mollah has stated that the agricultural marketing department has already been given responsibility to work out the modalities when it comes to onion prices in the state.
What’s More?
Well, this news reminds us of our neighbour, Pakistan, who are facing a similar tarkari crisis! The prices of tomatoes have reached a whooping ₹300 per kg. And as a way to protest these skyrocketing prices, a Pakistani bride even wore jewellery made from tomatoes to her wedding. If you haven’t heard of this check out Pakistani Bride Wears Jewellery Made Out Of Tomatoes To Wedding Thanks To Outrageous Prices Maybe it’s time we go vegetables shopping with our parents and look for avenues to invest in vegetables rather than gold. Kandha anyone?