Regulate veg markets to weed out middlemen menace: O Panneerselvam

Former Chief Minister and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam on Friday urged the state government to regularise the vegetable markets in the state.

In a detailed statement the AIADMK leader pointed out that the public are suffering inflation for the past seven months after the DMK government took over. Particularly the vegetables prices have skyrocketed by several folds. For instance, districts like Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem cultivate tomato on a large scale and the farmers are paid Rs 30, but the tomato after reaching Koyambedu is sold around Rs 45 and the local market the price is around Rs 60 to Rs 65.

Even at the time of tomato shortage when the prices surged up to Rs 160, the farmers were paid only Rs 40, OPS explained. Similarly, the drumstick is grown in Dindigul, Tirupur and Theni where the farm produce is Rs 100 to Rs 150 for a bag, but the prices jump to Rs 220 at Koyambedu and Rs 430 in retail shops, OPS said pointing out that the middle men benefit from the inflation, whereas the farmers are paid low and the public forced to spend more, he said.

The rising prices of vegetables and essential commodities, including groceries is a major failure of the DMK government and the intermediaries were taking the advantage of the rise in prices of all essential commodities. OPS also blamed the DMK for not taking any steps to regulate the vegetable prices. The role of any elected government is to keep the inflation under check and ensure that the public are not fleeced, it is the duty of the elected government to arrest inflation and Chief Minister MK Stalin should intervene in this matter, OPS added.