Belagavi
While the farmers and wholesale traders from the Belagavi region are in a quandary after the lockdown woes that have restricted the wholesale trading to four hours, cyclone 'Tauktae' has further added to their problems over supplies to Goa. While heavy rainfall combined with the storm has left normal life of Belgaumites out of gear, the incessant rains have also left the wholesale vegetable market places inundated.
The difficult circumstances forced the farmers to throw away the good quality vegetables due to which very few vehicles were loaded for Goa. The situation is expected to worsen further as the storm and heavy rains are expected to continue on Monday.
The temporary wholesale markets at the RTO grounds at Kanbargi and the CPEd College ground was inundated and murky making it impossible for the traders and farmers to unload and load vegetables. The situation of the farmers and traders worsened further as the temporary sheds were leaking heavily and water clogged.
“The supplies are very good and the vegetables are very cheap. But as the unloading and loading activity almost came to a halt due to difficult circumstances farmers literally threw the vegetables on the open ground as they couldn’t sell them elsewhere,” wholesaler Shrikant Pote said.
"Sending vegetables to Goa is becoming more difficult these days, hence we have urged the authorities to shift the wholesale vegetable market back to APMC Market Yard," Pote said.
Meanwhile, as the rains continue to lash and Monday being the weekly off, vegetable supplies to Goa are likely to be affected in the next few days, wholesale traders opined.
