Prices of vegetables, lentils, commodities soar in Mancherial

The prices went up at a time when devotees are celebrating Bonalu festival to thank Lord Shiva or Mallanna for their well-being and for registering bumper harvest by cooking various types of dishes and congregating at local temples on Sundays

Mancherial: Prices of vegetables, lentils and commodities soared since the last few days, causing financial burden on the public.

Prices of vegetables, beans, brinjal, etc, carrot, cauliflower, drumsticks, lady’s finger, etc., have gone up drastically. For instance, brinjal is priced at Rs 80 per kilogram, while indigenous beans (Chikkudu) are sold for Rs 100 a kg. Rates of lady’s finger, drumsticks, cauliflower and carrot have increased by at least 20 percent.

---

Prices of essential ingredients of curries such as green chilli, tomato, coriander leaves, fenugreek, onions, ginger and garlic too have shot up. Green chilli is sold at Rs 80 per kg, while coriander leaves are priced at Rs 100 a kg. Garlic can be bought for Rs 400 per kg when compared to Rs 200 sold a fortnight back.

The prices went up at a time when devotees are celebrating Bonalu festival to thank Lord Shiva or Mallanna for their well-being and for registering bumper harvest by cooking various types of dishes and congregating at local temples on Sundays. They traditionally worship the deity in the month of December and January for seven Sundays.

The devotees regretted that celebrating the festival had become a costly affair. Vegetable vendors said that the prices were shot up due to increase in demand and dip in supply. They, however, hope that the rates would come down by the Sankranti festival.

Meanwhile, the price of fine rice grains such as Jai Sriram and HMT Sona varieties have increased by Rs 10 per kilogram. The rice is sold for Rs 7,000 per quintal in the market of Mancherial town. The price of toor dal (kandipappu) has gone up from Rs 140 to Rs 180 per kg. The rates of groundnut, sesame, cooking oil, Bengal gram and other lentils have swelled ahead of the Sankranti festival.

People of Telangana, known for preparing various snacks such as chakinalu, garelu, murukulu and laddus during Sankranti are worried a lot over the spike in prices of ingredients. “I am forced to reduce the quantity of snacks considering the soaring prices of key ingredients in the recent past,” Rajakka, a woman from Gowthaminagar said.