Rise in AP loads fail to tame tomato price

VELLORE: “The co-operative department is set to distribute tomatoes to 10 more shops from Wednesday onwards,” an official said.

A salesman of a co-op store told DT Next that tomatoes were purchased for Rs 78 per kg and sold for Rs 70 for the consumers. But the shopkeeper had no clue on how to safely store the ‘precious’ fruit-vegetable. The co-operative department is said to be keen on keeping the rates less than that of the Uzhavar Santhais where tomatoes are being sold at Rs 85 a kg. However, there was no initiative to launch sale of tomato through mobile units as the department has no vans.

A local resident told DT Next that he is annoyed by the fact that the department could not hire vehicles for selling tomatoes while they are able to do so for other purposes.

An official of the co-operative department said it is not feasible to arrange sale of tomatoes through vans in Vellore owing to the limited number of shops functioning in the locality.

“We cannot compare the Fort City with a metropolitan city like Chennai where vans can traverse long distances to cater to the people’s needs,” he added.

However, individual vegetable vendors were selling in minivans near the Gangai Amman temple at Sathuvachari selling tomatoes for Rs 70-90 per kg based on the size. In Otteri, a woman vendor was also found selling in the open market for the same rate.

K Sathiyamoorthy, a resident of Sathuvachari, wondered why tomato prices are so high despite being available freely in the market.