Mercury touches 400C in Chennai suburbs, vegetable prices up four-fold

The mercury had soared in other parts of the State as well on Sunday. Interior districts including Dharmapuri (40.2 Degrees Celsius), Madurai (40.2 Degrees Celsius), Tiruchy (40.8 Degrees Celsius), Vellore (41 Degrees Celsius) and Karur (41.8 Degrees Celsius) suffered the most.

This, however, has had a spiral effect on vegetable prices here with sellers claiming that prices of a few of them have increased four-fold in the past few days. “The price of one bag of cabbage was Rs 300 two months ago, but now it is Rs 1,000,” said Parthasarathy, a vegetable seller at Meesapet market. “One kg of cabbage used to cost Rs 8, now it costs Rs 25, so customers are in a fix,” he added. The increasing heat is causing land to dry up and sparse water is causing vegetables to shrink and this is particularly profound in green leafy vegetables, which have drastically reduced, said Mukundhan, a farmer in Oddanchatram.

VR Soundararajan from Koyambedu Association said that besides cabbage, the prices of beans and coriander have also shot up in the span of a few weeks, as temperatures have been steadily climbing since February. “The price of beans was Rs 15 two months ago and it has become Rs 100 now. Even coriander, daily bought by customers, has become costly. A bunch that earlier cost Rs 5 is now sold at Rs 15,” he said.

On Monday, the maximum temperature is likely to continue above normal by 2-3 Degrees Celsius at a few places including Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruchy, Karur, Dindigul and Madurai districts.