If vegetables are burning a hole in your pockets these days, do not blame the rains or a sudden spurt in demand.

Rather, the recent violence in Jamshedpur over an eve-teasing incident in Mango that led to clampdown of Section 144 from the wee hours of Tuesday has restricted supply of vegetables to the steel city, causing prices to spiral.

Vehicles carrying vegetables from various parts of the state and neighbouring Bengal are not able to reach the wholesale market at Sakchi, also known as Sabji Mandi, resulting in a gap between demand and supply.

Hence, potatoes, which were selling at Rs 10 to Rs 12 a kg till a few days ago, were pricier at Rs 20 per kg in Sakchi and Mango on Thursday.

Onions also sold at a steep Rs 40 per kg, while it cost Rs 28 in most markets of the steel city earlier this week.

Green vegetables are no less dearer.

Prices of ladies' fingers have doubled from Rs 40 a kg to Rs 70-Rs 80 in Sakchi, Mango, Bistupur and other markets.

Similarly, price of pointed gourds has shot up from Rs 20 per kg to Rs 40 to Rs 50.

Ditto for bottle gourds, which cost Rs 30 a kg now.

Tomatoes, which were available at Rs 30 a kg till Monday, sold for Rs 40 to Rs 50 a kg in Mango, Sakchi and other places.

"Unavailability of fresh stock of vegetables due to promulgation of prohibitory orders, which put brakes on arrival of consignments from different places, has resulted in the price hike," said Mukesh Kumar, a vendor at Sakchi vegetable market, adding that if fresh stocks did not arrive in the next one or two days, the old reserve would get exhausted.

Residents are obviously grumpy. "The vegetable vendors are charging us as per their whim and fancy. They are taking advantage of the situation to increase prices arbitrarily. We are left with no other option but to buy the vegetables at a premium at this hour of crisis," rued Ashok Kumar Ganguly, a resident of Dimna Road in Mango.

Another customer at the Sakchi vegetable market, Arun Tiwary, hoped that prices would decease with restoration of supply.

A senior functionary of Parsudih-based Krishi Utpad Bazaar Samiti said supply was expected to be restored in the next couple of days. "The district administration has started allowing entry of heavy vehicles from tonight (Thursday night). We hope the crisis will end soon," he added.