By Bimol Okram
IMPHAL, December 26: While the relaxation of the indefinite bandh on account of Christmas came as welcome relief to people, the fear and anxiety over a fresh round of violence and disturbances in public life and movement in the likely event of the bandh continuing again led to a rush in markets and shops. As consumers flocked to the market to buy stocks for vegetables, cereals, grains and other basic essentials, it was the shopkeepers and vendors selling wares on the streets who had a field day today.
The two day bandh relaxation saw shopkeepers and customers vying with each other to get their hands on vegetables and grains being unloaded at the wholesale market in Imphal. Liklaileima, President of the Khwairamband Ima Panthoibi Sana Keithel (temporary market) said that the vendors and shopkeepers were hiking the price of vegetables like onion, potato, banana, cauliflower, cabbage. The price of the humble pea shot up to Rs 110 per kg while normal rate would have pegged it at Rs 30-35 per kg.
While normally, customers haggle with price rates of commodities in the market, there was no room for bargaining in the markets today. With the call for a 72 hour bandh in the hill districts, vegetable vendors made a killing with their sale proceeds ranging from Rs, 2700 to Rs 3000 while normal days would have meant them taking back Rs 1000 to Rs 1100 at the most. “Well, we could not sell anything these past few days and whatever we had earlier got wasted so the call for another round of bandh means there are people who would want to buy what we are selling. At least I am able to recover my losses that I suffered these past few days,” said a vegetable vendor at the old Ima Keithel.
The last few days of December are marked by a rise in price every year on account of vendors from the hill districts keeping themselves busy with Christmas festivities in Manipur. But this time, the spectre of a possible extension of movement and market closure in case violence broke out gave speed to the subtle desperation that made people rush to markets and pay close to thrice the rate of items.