New Delhi: Amidst the soaring price of tomatoes, Tamil Nadu Government on Tuesday started selling tomatoes at Rs 60 per kg in 82 fair-price shops in the city.

Vegetable prices have been surging rapidly in many past in North India. As the supply shortages occur in the producing regions affected by rains, prices of tomatoes witnessed a major hike and climbed up from Rs 129 per kg in some parts of Delhi-NCR to Rs 150 per kg in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad.

This initiative would be extended to other parts of the state if required, Minister for Cooperatives K R Periyakaruppan stated.

Adding further Minister said, “The latest move is in addition to the Pannai Pasumai (Farm Fresh) outlets in Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and Vellore making tomatoes available at Rs 60 per kilo.”

The decision to sell tomatoes at the ration was taken at a meeting chaired by the minister on Monday evening. During the meeting, the minister addressed the cooperatives and horticulture department officials to look for the tomato cultivation areas and make sure that they get uninterrupted supply to the consumers across Tamil Nadu.

As per an official in the cooperative department, it has been decided to provide a family with one kilo of tomatoes each day. In the initial stage, tomatoes will be sold at 32 locations in north Chennai with 25 fair-price shops in central along with south Chennai areas.

Across India, consumers have been struggling to buy tomatoes with the constantly varying prices. The centre is finding it difficult to bridge the gap between soaring prices and the never-ending demand for vegetables.

The government said that the increase in prices is merely a seasonal phenomenon and it will go back to normal in the next few days.

(Written by:- Mahek Nigam

Edited by:- Prateek Gautam)