Ranchi, Feb. 22: Grab your veggie basket and head for the market if you aren?t there already! Vegetables are being sold at throwaway prices, thanks to a glut in production and a transport bottleneck.

The Telegraph carried out a survey of the main vegetable markets in the capital. While customers can make the most of the windfall, vegetable-sellers are counting their losses, despite a good crop. Last week, a kilo of tomato would cost anything between Rs 6 and Rs 8. Now, the price has nosedived to Rs 2 per kg. A few lesser varieties are being sold for as low as Re 1 per kg. Cauliflowers and cabbages are going for Rs 2-3 a kilo compared to last week?s Rs 6-8 per kilo. If the cost of parwal has kept it out of your breakfast platter, then this is the time to devour it in huge amounts. A kilo of the vegetable cost Rs 60 a week ago. Now it is going for an affordable Rs 23 per kg.

The price of cucumber, which was Rs 24 per kg has now come down to Rs 12 per kg. The price of brinjals has also dipped to Rs 3-4 per kilogram as opposed to Rs 8-10 per kilogram a few days ago. Vegetable vendors aren?t in the least amused at the irony. The recent spell of rain helped produce a better-than-average crop. But the sale of vegetables to other states has dried to a trickle ever since the Assembly election began. Truck and lorry-owners are loath to venture on highways for fear of their vehicles being forcibly deployed for poll duty.

Surendra Singh, a customer shopping at Daily Market today, was making the most of the opportunity. ?Can you imagine buying tomatoes for Rs 2 a kg! I don?t know how long this will last but I don?t intend to let this chance go by,? said Singh.

Mohammad Ijaz, a shopkeeper at the Daily Market said, ?The fall in prices started a few days back. We have selling vegetables at incredibly low prices. The reason is simple. The production this season has been in excess. Supply has outstripped demand. Vendors have no option but to dispose of the vegetables at throwaway prices,? said Ijaz.

Others blamed it on the restrictions in the sale of vegetables to other areas for the excess in the market. Mohammad Yunis, another shopkeeper said, ?We used to send the vegetables to different places like Patna, Darbhanga and even Calcutta. But we can?t do that because of the election. Trucks don?t want to travel. We have to sell the vegetables off before they rot,? said Yunis. Vendors pointed out that the situation the price plunge starts at the beginning of the sale chain. Farmers from villages are giving away the vegetables at a very low cost. ?We buy vegetables from Mandar, Ratu, Bijupur and many other areas. We have been buying tomatoes for Re 1 per kg or even less and a full basket of tomatoes for only Rs 10-12,? said a vendor at the Lalpur market.

Vendors at the market in front of Raj Bhavan on Ratu Road had similar reactions.

Apart from the price of tomatoes and other vegetables, the price of coriander leaves has seen a sharp dip. A kilo of the popular garnishing now costs Rs 4. A week ago, they sold for Rs 30.

?The situation will become normal after the elections when we start sending vegetables to other areas,? said a vendor at Lalpur market.