Covid-19: Supply of essentials hit due to worker shortage, transport issues

A large chunk of the labour has gone home following lock down; fleet owners are reluctant to carry consignments citing harassment

Processors and importers are finding it hard to keep up the supply of essential commodities with most markets, such as vegetables, edible oil, grain and pulses being disrupted either because they don’t have workers, or transport facilities are not smooth. If such a situation continues for long, scarcity could be major problem, says markets leaders.

In Mumbai, grain offtake has doubled to 100,000 bags of 30 kg each a day over the past few days. After the lock down was implemented across many states, transporters are saying they may carry grains from producing centres, because when they go empty on