Tomatoes looted from shops in this UP district, case filed: Details inside

The two retailers, Ramji and Naim Khan, opened their shops in the morning only to find that huge quantities of tomatoes, ginger, and chillies were missing

Two shops in a market region in Uttar Pradesh were shocked to find a sum of 26 kg of tomatoes, 25 kg of chilies, and 8 kg of ginger missing in Fatehpur district, the police said on Thursday. In connection with the case, at least two individuals were arrested.

The incident took place on July 10, according to the police. The two retailers, Ramji and Naim Khan, shut their shops and returned home the previous night. When they opened their shops the next day, they found that they had been looted of their tomato, ginger, and chilly stocks.

The shopkeepers filed a complaint with the police on Thursday, following which a case was registered against two individuals, recognized as Kamta Prasad and Mohammad Islam under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

 

In a Twitter post, Samajwadi Party boss Akhilesh Yadav took a jibe at the state police and proposed changing the name of the Special Task Force (STF) to "Special Tomato Force."

What are the steps taken by the government to control tomato prices in India?

The Department of Consumer Affairs has asked the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation and National Cooperative Consumers Federation to secure tomatoes from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra and allocate them to regions that have seen the greatest jump in tomato rates.

The new stocks, a government statement said, will be accessible to buyers in Delhi-NCR at discounted costs by today. The centres where these new stocks will be delivered have been distinguished based on absolute hikes in retail costs over the course of the last month, the government said. The scale of utilisation has additionally been viewed in the method.

While tomato is produced in essentially every Indian state, the southern and western regions represent almost 60% of the nation's overall production. Their surplus produce is then used to guarantee continuous supply to different parts of India.
 

What are the reasons behind the hike in tomato prices in India?

According to the government, "The production seasons are also different across regions. The peak harvesting season occurs from December to February. The periods during July-August and October-November are generally the lean production months for tomatoes."

They added, "July coinciding with monsoon season, adds to further challenges related to distribution and increased transit losses adding to price rise. The cycle of planting and harvesting seasons and variation across regions are primarily responsible for price seasonality in tomatoes. Apart from the normal price seasonality, temporary supply chain disruptions, and crop damage due to adverse weather conditions, etc. often lead to sudden spikes in prices."

New crop arrivals from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are also anticipated to begin soon. As a result, prices are expected to fall in the near future," the government stated.