Beset with dip in profits, inadequate infrastructure at mandis, vendors feel left out of the election buzz

Ghazipur vegetable market in east Delhi.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Sitting next to his stall on a packed afternoon in the Ghazipur wholesale vegetable market, Md. Suleman witnesses several potential customers bristling with anger when he quotes the prices of ginger and garlic, which are the two items he sells. “₹280 a kilo! Am I buying garlic or gold?” snaps Radha Devi. The 32-year-old complains about how little one can purchase with a ₹500 currency note and the apathy of political leaders about the travails of the middle class and asks the vendor to pack garlic worth ₹50.

Mr. Suleman says that food inflation, coupled with the shrinking purchasing power of his customers, has caused a big drop in his daily earnings. “The nature of this market is such that we have to keep reducing our margins and bring down the prices every hour to sell off the items by day end. These problems find no mention in any party manifesto,” adds the 48-year-old Delhi voter.

Several vegetable sellers The Hindu spoke to across the Capital had similar experiences. Their earnings have decreased over the past two to three years even as little has been done to provide basic facilities, such as drinking water, at the mandis.

Hearing Mr. Suleman, his neighbouring vendor Indra Pal pitches in.

“Despite paying rent for our spots in the mandi, we still have to reach hours in advance to secure a place. Why can’t the parties in power build designated stalls for us? Why do we need to come here by 12 a.m. every night to be able to queue up for a slot and start selling at 3 a.m.,” asks the 55-year-old voter.

At the Okhla wholesale market, 44-year-old Md. Emraan, who sells fruits, says while inflation has impacted everyone, “People will still have to buy vegetables. It is the fruit seller who has taken the worst hit.”

He adds, “I used to sell at least 120 cartons of fruits daily till 2022. Now my shop barely does business of 30 cartons a day. But no leader talks about it. They are busy pitting people against each other.”

Despite the fall in earnings, Mr. Emraan says the fixed costs the traders pay as rent for their shop have not reduced.

“There are no clean sources of potable water at the market. So, every day we spend over ₹200 on buying drinking water,” he adds. Rajeev, another fruit seller, says, “Over the past three years, my daily profit has fallen sharply from ₹2,000 to ₹500.”