Patna, Sept. 28: Till last week, Rekha Mishra used to serve varieties of lip-smacking curries. A resident of Boring Road and a homemaker, she used to buy all sorts of vegetables and have a nice time cooking them for her family.

However, things have changed in a week. With the prices of vegetables soaring, the varieties have completely disappeared from her everyday menu.

Now it comprises one or two dishes.

The incessant rainfall that resulted in flood-like situation in north Bihar, the spate of drought, the ensuing Assembly elections and the forthcoming Dussehra pushed the prices north.

The steep rise in almost all essential vegetables has hit all. The vegetable vendors of Patna told The Telegraph that prices of vegetables had soared in a short time and due to this people were buying less vegetables.

Vendor Ram Kumar, who has a stall on Boring Road, said the rising water-level of Ganges is one among the many reasons behind the price rise.

“Villages like Sabalpur diara, Tajpur and Khursupur, located on the other side of Ganges, are known for production of vegetables. However, due to rise in water-level in Ganges, there is less transportation of vegetables from the other side. This leads to the rise in prices,” he said.

The upcoming elections and the Durga Puja festival were also responsible for the steady rise in vegetable prices, sellers said.

Santosh Ram, a vegetable seller near Kadamkuan area said that prices of onions and potatoes had gone up all of a sudden.

“There is less supply of onions from Nasik in Maharashtra as many trucks are being put to use for election purposes. Moreover, the supply of potatoes, which comes from Bengal is less because of forthcoming Durga Puja festival. Most of the trucks carrying vegetables are not allowed to move freely in Bengal, owing to the construction of puja pandals,” Ram said.

Flood in north Bihar added to the woes. “After swathes of crops were washed away, the production has been hit badly and hence the supply is less too,” Ram added.

Seema Verma, a resident of Boring Road told The Telegraph that she was not buying vegetables because of the soaring prices.

“The price of ladies finger, which my son is very fond of, was at Rs 12-14 per kg a week back. Now the price has jumped to Rs 24 per kg. Earlier, I used to buy at least 2kg of ladies fingers almost everyday. Now, it has gone down to half-a-kg everyday. The same is with other vegetables as well,” she said.

S.K. Sinha, who is with the Patna University and is a resident of Kadamkuan, said the rising prices is drilling a hole in everyone’s pocket.

“The price of tomatoes has gone up from Rs 32 to Rs 40 per kg. Even beans, which cost Rs 15 per 250 grams, now cost Rs 25. My family has got a taste for beans. Now, we have dropped it from the list of essential vegetables. These days, I am surviving only on potatoes as far as vegetables are concerned. The price of potatoes, too, has shot up from Rs 8 per kg to Rs 10,” he said.

Moreover, onions, which is an essential ingredient for all dishes, has seen an increase in prices, too.

One kg of onion, which was available at Rs 16, has gone up to Rs 20 per kg. Both vegetarians and non-vegetarians are facing the brunt due to the price rise.

“What do we do in such conditions? The price rise is a huge problem for the middle class and lower middle class families, who constitute a major chunk of the society. The government needs to put a check on this. Bihar is going for elections next month, we hope the political parties include price rise as an agenda in their election manifesto,” said Raman Gope, a resident of Patna.