Delhi govt staggers timing of sale of vegetables & fruits at mandis, shopkeepers not impressed

New Delhi: Delhi government on Monday decided to stagger the timing of the sale of vegetables and fruits and city’s wholesale markets and may even introduce Odd-even model at the mandis.

Arvind Kejriwal today directed vegetable shops to stay open from 6 to 11 while the fruit sellers can open only after 2 o’clock, a move to ensure social distancing is properly enforced on the ground. The move has left shopkeepers hugely disappointed as they say that this will complete derail their business and will have to incur unbearable losses.

Especially, the fruit sellers are the most worried lot as the damage will be mostly on them.

Odd-even formula at Mandis

The imposition of Odd-even formula will be another setback with which the vegetable & fruit sellers will have to comply with.

Though the move is well intended with a purpose to ensure social distancing even at the mandis so that the Covid-19 spread can be contained, it has certainly not gone well with the shopkeepers who anticipate another round of losses due to this govt ‘diktat’.

Their argument is that if fruits are loaded on the trucks for 1 day and can’t be unpacked, the losses would be too high to cope.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari also shared a video of people from mandis sharing their difficulties.

5 major veg-fruit markets in the city

There are five major wholesale vegetable and fruit markets in the national capital, including the Azadpur mandi, the Ghazipur mandi and the Okhla mandi. Also, there two wholesale ‘anaj mandis’ (wheat markets) Najafgarh and Narela.

According to the odd-even rule, sheds under which hundreds of traders sell vegetables will be allowed to operate according to their numbers.