Bengaluru: Devotees seek Ganesha’s mercy as fruit prices soar

Bengaluru: As the city gears up to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi on Monday, the prices of flowers and fruits skyrocketed on the eve of festival on Sunday. As if prices impacted by the recent floods in the country was not enough, the added festival rise is causing heartburn and has burnt a hole in the pockets of the middle-classes and poorer sections of society. The rain in the state has definitely helped farmers reap a good harvest of flowers but it hasn’t helped in lowering prices, thanks to the increased demand due to the festival.    

The prices of flowers like jasmine (mallige), rose, crossandra (kanakambra), chrysanthemum (sevanthige), which are traditionally used to adorn man’s favourite deity Lord Ganesha's idols have hit the roof making it sour grapes for many. In the wholesale market, a kilo of crossandra flower was priced at Rs 2,000, while the price of Jasmine flowers hovered between Rs 1,000 and 1,500.

The K R Market was abuzz with scores and scores of people and the numbers seemed a little unusually high compared to the regular festival seasons.

The prices however varied arbitrarily from locality to locality but on the higher side due to the huge rush. Many of them from as far as Jayanagar, R T Nagar, Vijayanagar, Basavanagudi,  Yeshwanthpura and even Malleshwaram had traveled all the way to K R Market to buy their flowers and also fruits at the best price.

"This has been a bad year for me financially. However, my family owes a lot to Lord Ganesha and I did not want to compromise in the offerings. I found the rates for flowers and fruits in R T Nagar a little too high and I decided to go to K R Market. I really got them at a far better deal though it was an ordeal shopping there today", said Poornima, a resident of R T Nagar.

"In K R Market, crossandra flowers were priced between Rs 1000 and and Rs 1200, Jasmine between Rs 400 and Rs 800, crysanthemum garlands between Rs 100 and Rs 240, loose crysanthemum in the range of Rs 120 to Rs 150, Rose Rs 60, oleander (kanagale) between Rs 120 and Rs 140 and tuberose (sugandharaja) between Rs 120 and Rs 140. The deal was good for me", said Saravana of Yeshwantpur.

Fruits not so sweet
Fruits which are prohibitively priced this festival did take away some of their sweetness for many in the city while vendors at K R Market again stood to gain.
The cost of Yellakki banana was priced at Rs 92 per kilograms in horticulture department stores but had hovered between Rs 100 and Rs 120 in the retail market on Sunday. Similarly, the cavendish bananas at Rs 30 per kilo were sold for between Rs 50 and Rs 80. Simla apples which were sold for Rs 138 per kilo hovered between Rs 170 and Rs 200. Musambis at Rs 90 per kilo horticulture price were sold anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 130 in different localities of the city.  

Veggies provide a respite
Lord Ganesha did seem to bless the city denizens with some respite in vegetable prices amid the pocket wrenching fruits' and flowers' prices. The prices of vegetables were down by as much as Rs 15 to Rs 20 a kilo. "The vegetable prices did not see a steep hike unlike fruits, this festival season. The greatest relief came from buying tomatoes whose wholesale rates have gone down from Rs 20-25 to Rs 5-8. The retailers are selling it between Rs 10 to Rs 15 a kilo. Similarly, the retail price of carrots has decreased from Rs 70-Rs 80 to Rs 50 to Rs 55. The prices of green beans, capsicum, bitter gourd and ridge gourd have all reduced from Rs 40-Rs 50 to Rs 30-Rs 35. Retail prices of cabbage, cauliflower and brinjal came down from Rs 30-35 to Rs 20-25 a kilo", said Saddath of Karnataka Fruits and Vegetables shop in Abbaiah reddy Layout, Vijnannagar.