Lockdown fallout: Azadpur mandi trading down 50% in absence of curfew passes

Trading at the Azadpur mandi, Asia's biggest wholesale fruits and vegetable market, has come down by 50 per cent in the last two days in the absence of curfew passes to traders, a senior mandi official said on Wednesday.

Wholesale traders are not able to transact much as retailer vendors are not able to enter the mandi because of police assault fears and seizure of their vehicles, he added.

"Enough supply of vegetables has reached mandis, but retailers are not allowed to enter for buying and carry in their vehicles. The police are asking for formal identify card to prove they are exempt from the restriction of lockdown rules," Azadpur mandi President Rajendra Kumar Sharma told PTI.

To enforce the lockdown rules, the police is stopping traders and vehicles despite people engaged in this business being exempt from the restrictions, he said.

"The government should provide curfew-pass to traders (both sellers and buyers) as well as labourers and ensure smooth passage of their vehicles," Sharma said.

A complaint has been registered with the District Magistrate as well as the board of the Azadpur mandi, he said.

Sharma warned that if such a situation continues and wholesalers are not able to sell their produce, they will reduce orders which will create shortage, resulting in price rise of vegetables.

On social distancing in the mandi, he said the crowd in the mandi has come down substantially as small retailers and individual buyers have stopped coming given the lockdown orders.