With supplies cut off, food prices shoot up in violence-hit Basirhat
KOLKATA: Fear is not the only enemy residents of riot-hit Basirhat town in the North 24 Parganas have to fight these days. With shops and markets closed since last Sunday and supply chains cut off, people are being forced to choose between hunger and an artificial inflation.
Supplies are dwindling and prices of vegetable, chicken, egg, fish, mutton and other perishable items are heading north.
And, district officials say this, too, is linked to the communal divide between Hindus and Muslims.
Ruma Mandal, a homemaker from the Chapapara area near Basirhat town is serving only potato curries to her family for the last few days.
“It is the only vegetable available in the local markets ever since tension gripped this area on Monday,” she said.
“But potato is selling at a premium. Last week I paid ₹8 for a kilo and today I bought two kilos for ₹24,” she said.
Srinath Ghosh, a resident of the Bhyabla area, said onion used to sell for ₹20 a kilo before a Facebook post he didn’t even see changed his life.
“Now we are paying anything between ₹30 and ₹32. Most of the shops are closed and there is an acute shortage of supply. Most of the shopkeepers are taking the advantage of the situation,” said Ghosh.
Price of a pair of poultry chicken eggs has increased from ₹10 to ₹16, said Rintu Sahana, a resident of Mailakhali area. Not willing to be quoted, a district administration official explained the real reason behind the shortage in food at Basirhat. “The difference in the demographic character of Basirhat town and that of the adjoining villages is responsible for this inflation,” he said.
“The town population comprises mostly Hindus while most of the villagers are Muslims. Markets in and around the town are heavily dependent on these villages for their daily supply. Ever since the violence started, the villagers have stopped supplying farm and animal products to the town people,” he said.