With lockdown extending beyond Poila Baishakh on April 14, the first day of Bengali calendar year is going to be a low-key affair. The markets, which are running on basic essential supply, may force many to compromise on their culinary delight.
Mutton, for instance, is unlikely to evoke gastronomical delight on Bengali platter, not because of soaring price, but because of its supply issue. “The goat supply has suffered a big jolt with hardly any truck coming from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Only a few mutton shops could open on Sunday. With depleting stock, we don’t think that we can supply mutton on Monday or Tuesday,” said Abdur Rehman, secretary of Bengal Meat Shop Owners Association.
Chicken is the only possible substitute. Price of chicken, which was selling at 130-150/kg, soared to Rs 180-200/kg on Sunday. It is likely to spike a bit with demand steadily soaring on Monday and Tuesday. However, there will be another round of compromise, if one wants to have fine biryani. “With focus being on the supply of basic rice varieties, no one is stocking premium quality Dehradun rice. I couldn’t even book it online,” said Argha Ganguly, a sound engineer from New Alipore.
The supply of fish is steady but limited. The supply of some varieties of fish is fluctuating because of transport issues, said S A Maqsood, secretary Howrah Fish Merchants’ Association. So ‘topse fry’, ‘beckti paturi’ might be tall demand for Poila Baishakh platter. “But ‘rohu’ and ‘katla’are in abundance so are some desi varieties. Moreover, prawn is available in good quantity and at good price with big restaurants downing their shutters,” said Amiya Patra of Lake Market.
Supply of vegetables has surpassed demand. Most of the vegetables are selling at price quite unthinkable during such time. Most of the vegetables are selling at sub-30 category.
Source: Times of India
