Tomato tamasha in Delhi: Inside the red zone
The NCCF has stipulated tomatoes worth ₹100 (about 1.4kg) per person to ensure that more people get to buy them.
Anisha Joshi, a resident of south Delhi’s Shahpur Jat, got into a heated argument with four people standing in the queue as she appeared to cut the line to the counter selling subsidised tomatoes. Joshi, a mother of three, works as a house help. People in the queue raised objections, saying that her getting the tomatoes before them would be “unfair”.
“I cannot afford to buy tomatoes for ₹250 per kg, and I cannot go back home without them. We have been eating tasteless food,” Joshi shot back.
The woman is among hundreds of others who queue up every day to purchase subsidised tomatoes at government outlets in Nehru Place and Hauz Khas, among other areas.
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After the price of tomatoes shot up, the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF), under the direction of the ministry of consumer affairs, started selling them at subsidised rates from July 14. NCCF is currently selling them for ₹70 per kg as against a market rate of about ₹250. However, the demand has been off the scales and NCCF officials say they are struggling to control the crowds at these outlets.
Yogendra Prasad Singh, branch manager, NCCF, says they are also short-staffed. “One day, a man hit one of our staff members because we ran out of tomatoes. We do not have the manpower to send more than two people per location,” said Singh.
Rekha Mishra, assistant manager, Delhi NCCF, says that tomatoes arriving from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh start getting unloaded at NCCF’s Nehru Place warehouse at 9am, from where mobile vans are loaded. “It takes two hours to load the vans,” Mishra said, adding that the vans reach the locations by 12.30pm and people start lining up an hour before that.
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Mishra usually manages the distribution at the Hauz Khas location. “I always dread the process because we have enough tomatoes to give to about 300 people but the lines extend to many more people,” she said.
Singh says that the average supply per day is 550 crates (25kg per crate) of tomatoes. Of this, 140 crates are usually given to Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) for their online portals, 60 to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED), and 40 crates are sent to Noida. The rest of the crates are distributed in several locations in Delhi in mobile vans, with each van carrying about 20 crates.
NCCF has stipulated tomatoes worth ₹100 (about 1.4kg) per person to ensure that more people get to buy them.
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Irregular weather conditions and untimely rains have destroyed a huge portion of the crop. The retail prices, meanwhile, have skyrocketed with tomatoes being sold at anywhere between ₹250 to ₹300 in the Capital, including at outlets like Safal (owned by Mother Dairy).
Not everyone is affected by the surge in price though. Robin Anderson, 44, who lives alone in Dwarka, is more affected by the unavailability of tomatoes. A sales professional, he can afford to buy tomatoes even at a higher price, but he’s often unable to find them. “I have to use fewer tomatoes and use more substitutes to compensate for the taste,” said Anderson.
HT’s spot visit found that people were visibly agitated from waiting for long at the Hauz Khas outlet. As NCCF began selling the tomatoes, a different set of problems emerged — the first being people trying to pick the best tomatoes for themselves and the second being multiple people from the same family queueing up to purchase the vegetable.
“Farmers, in an attempt to sell more tomatoes are giving them away even when they are not ripe. People refuse to take those as they are visibly green,” Singh said.
Delhi’s usual supply of tomatoes in June, July, and August comes from Himachal but the rains this year devastated the crop in the hill state.
Meanwhile, wholesale traders said that retailers were not buying in huge quantities due to the surge in prices.
Ashok Kaushik of Tomato Traders’ Association, Azadpur, said, “It is very complicated to explain the sales. The price is up and people are being more cautious, so naturally retailers are also not buying in large quantities like before. But it remains a staple.”Also
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Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.