The tomato price hike in Delhi NCR, as well as several other northern cities, had been making headlines for over a week but now, the Centre has decided to take a step forward and reduce the price of the essential vegetable to just Rs 80 per kg in the national capital.
Earlier, the tomato prices in Delhi NCR and nearby cities had gone as high as Rs 250 per kg, mostly because of the disruptions to the supply chain and the extreme weather conditions over the past month.
The Centre will sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg from Sunday, as against Rs 90 per kg earlier, to provide relief to people from high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets.
On Friday, the Centre started to sell tomatoes at a discounted rate of Rs 90 per kg in Delhi-NCR through mobile vans. More cities were added on Saturday.
"There has been a decrease in the wholesale prices of tomatoes due to the intervention of the government to sell it at a concessional rate of Rs 90 per kg, at several locations in the country where the prices were ruling exceptionally high," an official statement said.
"After a re-assessment of the situation from across 500 plus points in the country, it has been decided to sell it at Rs 80 per kg from today Sunday, July 16th, 2023," it added. The Centre has set up mobile trucks in Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Lucknow, Patna and other cities in an effort to provide tomatoes at a reasonable rate.
Apart from tomatoes, the prices of other essential vegetables such as ginger, garlic, lemons and green chillies had also gone up in parts of India over the last few weeks due to the heavy rains and intense heatwave in parts of the country, ruining the yield and disrupting the supply chain.
(With PTI inputs)
READ | Vegetable price hike: After tomatoes, rates of chillies, ginger, cauliflower through the roof in Delhi NCR
