KOLKATA: People thronged Sufal Bangla stores for vegetables over the weekend and on Monday to beat the inflations caused by successive rises of fuel prices. Demand at Sufal Bangla stalls was so high that vendors had a harrowing time satisfying everyone. A majority of the stores ran out of stock within an hour of opening.
Ever since CM Mamata Banerjee announced retailing of vegetables at subsidised prices through Sufal Bangla stores, people have favoured them. “Higher diesel prices sent our domestic budgets haywire. Sufal Bangla can certainly soften the impact. But I attempted twice and found everything out of stock as I visited around 10am on Saturday and Monday. I have decided to visit earlier on Tuesday,” said Gitanjali Basu, a resident of Tollygunge.
“Since the cropping period has been delayed due to weather, the bulk supply of vegetables to the market is yet to happen. Thus, prices are still very high,” said Kamal De, a member of the Market Task Force.
Foreseeing a greater demand, the agri-marketing department is stepping up procurement of vegetables from farmers, apart from increasing the number of stores from 332 to 500 as instructed by the CM. Initially, the vegetables were procured only from Koley Market. However, now some farmers surrounding Singur and North 24 Parganas are supplying fresh vegetables to the Sufal Bangla network, said an official.
Not only vegetables, people were also buying fruits from these stalls. After instruction from the CM, the agri-marketing department is stocking up on fruits at Sufal Bangla stalls keeping Ramzan in mind. “Sufal Bangla has made the fruit retail market competitive. Different hubs at various Agro Climatic Zones of Bengal have also been activated for supply of fruits in different seasons in the future.
