2,000 tonnes of veggies unsold on Day 1 of intense lockdown

2,000 tonnes of veggies unsold on Day 1 of intense lockdown

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:25/05/2021 

A day after brisk sale, around 2,000 tonnes of vegetables remained unsold at the Koyambedu wholesale market on Monday. Thousands had thronged the facility on Sunday to stock up ahead of the week-long total lockdown that began on Monday. Vegetables were sold only to vendors on minitrucks authorised by Greater Chennai Corporation on Monday and these trucks will be the only source for residents to buy vegetables till the lockdown ends on May 31.

The Koyambedu Wholesale Market Complex (KWMC) received around 3,000 tonnes of vegetables on Monday, 2,000 tonnes less than Sunday’s arrivals. While around 1,000 tonnes of vegetables were sold through the 2,600 designated minitrucks on city streets, the rest remained unsold as customers and retail, wholesale traders denied entry to the facility, which was overseen by Greater Chennai Corporation officials directly.

S Chandran, secretary of Federation of Wholesale Vegetable Market Associations, said Koyambedu will receive around 300 supply trucks bringing in around 3,000 tonnes of vegetables on Tuesday too. “We do not see any drop in supply of vegetables to the city,” he added.

S S Muthukumar, president of the Koyambedu Semi Wholesale Vegetable Traders Association, said the city is unlikely to face any shortage of vegetables till Thursday as people who shopped on Sunday have stocked up enough. “There was substantial sale, both wholesale and retail, on Sunday. So there is no chance of shortage in the coming days,” he said. Demand for vegetables will go up again from Thursday, he said, adding that storing excess vegetables in Koyambedu until then would be an issue.