Till 4 pm, the purchase of edible oil and spices reached 95 lakhs due to the purchase permission.
As soon as the lockdown was announced in the state, there was a huge rush of people in grocery stores on Tuesday afternoon. There was chaos in the grocery stores located in different areas of the capital till 4 pm. People bought twice as much flour and rice as on normal days. As a result, 4 crore flour and rice were sold in two and a half hours. In other days, flour and rice traded up to 2 crores. At the same time, the business of edible oil and spices also reached 9 million.
It used to be between 60 and 65 lakh in the normal days. Honor Lalan Kesari of All in One General Store, Bailey Road, said that apart from flour and rice, people also made a lot of purchases of bread, biscuits, maggi, spices. Stocks of bread, biscuits and other food items were exhausted by 4 pm in many shops, while some shopkeepers closed their shop as crowds increased. However, there was no shortage of grocery items in other super markets and malls including Big Bazaar.
Fear of black marketing
The apprehension of black marketing of food items has come to a head after the lockdown was announced. Retail businessman Bunty Kumar said that like the lockdown of last year, wholesale traders can suppress the goods even after the stock of flour and rice is available in plenty. Artificial shortage can lead to higher prices. A shopkeeper said on condition of anonymity that wholesale traders have started suppressing goods in other mandis including Patna City, Patna, Danapur.
