TN govt begins to sell tomatoes at 82 PDS shops in Chennai

CHENNAI: In view of prices of tomatoes skyrocketing to Rs 120 to Rs 130 per kg in the city markets, the State government planned to sell tomatoes at ration shops for Rs 60 per kg. Though people welcome the initiative and purchased from the nearby PDS in some parts of the city, the majority of the ration shops especially in north Chennai did not receive the products and people returned home without tomatoes.

“We could not afford to spend Rs 140 per kg at the retail shops in the area, and the farm fresh outlets are far away and we are unable to purchase. After the government announcement, we expected this initiative would be better to purchase at least half a kilogram of tomatoes that we can afford. We waited from 8.30 am till noon but there has been no stock arrived at the shop, so returned in disappointment,” said Poonkodi, a resident of Old Washermenpet.

At least 10 shops in the northern part of the city such as Manali, Nethaji Nagar, and Ennore received only 15 kg of tomatoes which was not sufficient for the residents in the locality. The ration shop staff and public urge the government to provide an adequate supply of products and extend the number of PDS to sell tomatoes in the city.

“Only a few ration shops in the area sell tomatoes, and residents choose to purchase from the nearby shops. The majority of the people brought vegetables from the retail shops themselves because they could not travel 5 kilometers to purchase a kilogram of tomatoes. We expect that the government would gradually extend the ration shops to sell tomatoes because a similar situation happened when there was a spike in onion rates two years ago. Based on the public’s response the quantity in every shop was increased,” said a staff at a ration shop in Tiruvottriyur.

On the other hand, many ration shops in the city including Kolathur, Teynampet, Velachery, and Royapuram received 80 kg of tomatoes which were sold within an hour. However, those who visited the PDS after 11 am returned without purchasing tomatoes from the shop. Similarly, people purchased more than a kilogram of tomatoes, and even other vegetables were purchased from the farm fresh outlets that sold for Rs 60 to Rs 62 per kg.

With the implementation of selling tomatoes for less than the wholesale and retail price in the city, several traders' business has been impacted in the last two days. And they started to purchase a limited volume of vegetables.

Traders urge the government to improvise the storage facilities like other neighboring states.

“There is no proper storage facility in the country which is a major reason for the wastage of commodities. Government should provide storage facilities as used in Latin America – Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico because they have similar climatic conditions to India. For example, to store onions they have introduced open ventilator warehousing which can keep onions for six months,” said P Sukumaran, Secretary of Koyambedu Wholesale Market Merchants.

He further added that when the production increases, and there is a demand for domestic usage it will be used accordingly. Similarly, even for highly perishable commodities, there is a deep freezing system. If these problems are addressed at the earliest, it can help the farmers and avoid wastage, and the farmers should export commodities directly.