Rush in Darjeeling hills to fill larder

Residents of the Darjeeling hills rushed to markets on Friday to fill their larders before the start of the eight-day lockdown, but most of them were disappointed.

The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration had on Thursday announced a weeklong lockdown in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik municipal areas and at urban markets from Sunday.

The Bengal government had already announced a lockdown on Saturday, making it an eight-day affair in the hills.

Even though the Darjeeling district administration had on Thursday evening clarified that shops selling essential services would remain open, apprehensions of panic buying came true on Friday.

“I wanted to buy some vegetables but I ended up purchasing only mangoes. There were hardly any vegetable at the market,” said Prakriti Pradhan, a Darjeeling resident.

Groceries were available in Darjeeling but vegetables and fruits were out of stock.

“The moment we heard yesterday afternoon that there would be a lockdown, we cancelled our orders as our items are perishable and we were not sure how it would be implemented,” said a fruit seller at Chowk Bazar here. He, however, said the sale of limited fruits, mostly mangoes, was better than other days.

Vegetable vendors said they had reduced their daily order of late.

“Prices of vegetables have gone up. We used to sell bitter gourd for Rs 60 a kilogram, today we charge Rs 100. Since the prices have increased, people are also shopping in small quantities,” explained a vegetable trader.

Also, the lockdown at the regulated market in Siliguri seems to have affected supplies in the hills.

Despite the lack of enough choices in vegetables and fruits in the Darjeeling town, the rush was reminiscent of the Puja shopping period.

Traffic snarls were common throughout the day. Footfall at grocery shops was among the highest in the recent months. An off-shop at Judge Bazar here had run out of whisky by 4pm.

https://www.telegraphindia.com