The searing heat has dwindled the number of customers in Calcutta’s traditional bazaars.
The sellers are wary of what they are going to do with the unsold fish and vegetables. Storage is difficult for them at all times.
But in this heat, pointed gourd and lady’s finger, which would survive at least two-three days, now last at best a day. Even the ice is not cold enough to keep the fish fresh for a day.
Shop owners across Maniktala, Sealdah, Gariahat, Lake and Beleghata said the number of visitors had dropped so sharply over the last few days that the majority of them had been forced to cut down on their stocks by over 50 per cent to arrest losses.
Most of the unsold vegetables are wilting faster, making it difficult to store them beyond a day. Ice inside styrofoam boxes isn’t cold enough to preserve fish any longer, traders said.
With retailers stocking up less, fish is disappearing faster than before from markets even though the wholesalers said there was no shortage in supply.
Several vendors said the volume of ice that would suffice to preserve fish during winter isn’t enough to store fish even for a day this summer.
“We would earlier stock up 50-60kg of fish a day for regular sales. It’s not more than 12-15kg a day now. There are hardly any buyers. Regulars have stopped visiting the market. A few would call up on mobile phones, place their orders and get it delivered at the doorstep,” said Tapas Das, a fish-seller at the Maniktala market.
Unlike vegetables, which are still mostly sourced from districts in Bengal, the majority of the fish reaching the markets in Calcutta is sourced from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The bheries (water bodies where fish is grown) of Malancha and Kharibari in North 24-Parganas account for a smaller part of the total supply.
“Since the sale of fish has come down in the retail markets, our wholesale stock
has been piling up over the days,” said Syed Anwar Maqsood, secretary of the Howrah wholesale fish market. “There is no disruption in the supply of fish from faraway states.”
Retail vendors said most varieties of vegetables, barring potatoes and onions,
were drying up faster than before this summer, making it difficult for them to store the items.
Drumsticks, brinjals, lady’s fingers, ridge gourds and pointed gourds were shrivelling up despite attempts to store them wrapped in water-soaked towels or covers made of banana leaves.
“We would earlier get between 15-20kg of vegetables from the wholesale markets for daily sales. Over the last few days, we have cut it down to around 5-10kg,” said Devnath Shaw, a trader at the Baithakkhana Road market in Sealdah.
Some of the markets that Metro visited wore a deserted look on Wednesday with several stall owners trying hard to keep vegetables fresh by dipping them in buckets of water. Others placed wet towels on vegetables while gearing up for the evening market.
“Some varieties of the unsold vegetables, including beans, coriander leaves and carrots would last over a day earlier. Now, after a day, we need to throw them away,” said Sudarshan Samanta, a vegetable seller at the Maniktala market.The cost of ice slabs, a key item for preserving fish, has increased this summer.
“Ice slabs weighing 12kg would earlier cost Rs 60. It has gone up to Rs 80 for us, who are regular buyers,” said a fish seller in Gariahat.
