As soon as the auspicious month of Shravan got over with Rakha Bandhan, non-veg lovers thronged the streets of Ranchi on Sunday. Heavy rush was witnessed at the meat shops spreading in the areas such as lalpur Chowk, Bahu Bazar, Kamtoli and of course at Kathal More, known as paradise for mutton lovers.
Being a Sunday, morning markets across the city observed the usual rise in footfall as compared to rest of the week. The shoppers were more inclined towards the meat shops in these markets. The rush was such that jam like situation created near Distillery Bridge at lalpur. Similar scenario was also at Bahu Bazar where lots of meat shops are lined up.
“This happens every year, and like every year we were ready for the upsurge in demands. We get the birds and animals for meat sent in from bigger markets depending on the numbers of customers expected to turn up. The preparations have to be done beforehand as buyers begin to arriving at the shop in the morning,” stated Afroz, a meat shop owner from Bahu Bazaar.
The meat shop proprietors were happy with the brisk business after a month of lagging sales. Many had made prior arrangement to deal with the surge in demand and were seen arranging for the raw materials from quite early in the morning.
“I brought ten containers of chicken even on Saturday night. There was shortage of supply also at the wholesale market and at poultry farms. The amount I brought for Sunday was four times more than any normal day,” said Kaleem, a chicken seller at lalpur.
Higher demand also pushed prices in synchronization as well. Chicken was sold for around Rs150 a kilo against the usual price range of Rs100-120. Mutton prices also rose by a margin of Rs80-100 and touched Rs500 mark per kilogram at Kathal More.
“Devotedly following the canons of Shravan for a month, I remained abstinent from non-vegetarian diet. But now that the month is over, I am getting reacquainted with my regular food habits,” stated a customer waiting his turn at a mutton shop at Kathal More.
Meanwhile, one crucial ingredient of non-vegetarian recipes, onions, extracted more tears than the price of non-veg items for the common men. Already showing red, onion prices went further up with rise in demand.
In retail markets of the city, greengrocers sold onions for around Rs70 to 80 a kg against Rs50-60 earlier this week. High onion price pained people more and they were seen complaining against hoarders who according to them have escalated the price artificially.
Nevertheless, the civil administration had raided at wholesale markets five days ago to check hoarding and is still ready to act on any complaints of hoarding of food items with the intention of affecting the prices. “As soon as we get a complaint, similar raids will be conducted,” stated Ranchi Sub Divisional Officer Amit Kumar.
