Essential items go out of stock as black marketing touches a new high

Dilip Kumar Singh had switched on his television on Tuesday evening, curious about what Prime Minister Narendra Modi was going to say in his address to the nation.

The moment Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, Singh left his house without listening to the rest of Modi’s speech and went to the market to buy essential items.

He was shocked and surprised to find crowds of people with bags in their hands, running on the streets at night to keep essential goods like flour, sugar, salt, magi, and vegetables in stock, throwing the government advisory about social distancing to the winds and falling on one another to get hold of these items.

“I moved from one shop to another in the locality looking for flour packets but everyone said they are out of stock,” said Singh. The next day, he went to a local flour mill and bought 10 kg flour worth ₹600 — double its usual price. “I had no option at all. I had to pay it,” rues Singh.

Pallavi Kumari, a homemaker residing in Patna’s Patel Nagar, rushed to a local vegetable shop on Thursday (March 26) to buy vegetables. She was furious after finding out that onions and potatoes were being sold at ₹65 and ₹40 per kg respectively.

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She had an altercation with the vegetable seller, asking why their prices had shot up when onions were available for ₹30 and potato ₹20 a kg till Monday (March 23). “Madam, lena hai to lijiye, nahin to jaiye (Take it if you want, otherwise just leave if you don’t want it),” the shopkeeper told her bluntly.

Such episodes have become more frequent on the streets of Patna over the past few days after the Centre enforced a total lockdown. The lockdown had been in force in Bihar even before Modi announced it on Tuesday (March 24), but the situation got critical soon after the Prime Minister mentioned that this will continue for the next three weeks.

Experts say the step was taken without chalking out a proper plan. According to them, the government should have first put the system in place to arrange for food and other essential commodities for citizens, crackdown on habitual hoarders who often try to turn an adversity into an opportunity and lessen the fear in the minds of the people. Instead of discussing basic issues about how the masses would get essential items during the lockdown, the PM only asked people to cooperate.

“By enforcing a lockdown, the government has pushed India into an unprecedented economic calamity. The entire economy will get destroyed, while inflation will be at its peak. The government never thought what will be its impact before announcing lockdown,” said prominent economist Professor D M Diwakar, who served as the director of the Patna-based A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies.

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“The government says there will be no crisis with essential goods but the question here is, how will these products remain available in the market for long when all factories are shut, all kinds of transportation has been totally suspended, and finally no workers are working there after the lockdown? How will the goods reach the people when these factories are totally shut?” he asked.

“There was just no need for it. The government should have enforced a target-specific lockdown that should have been implemented in cities affected by the virus first. Villages should have been kept out of this. Now, this will destroy agriculture and lead to huge lay-offs in private sectors, since the factories are shut. We are headed for a severe economic crisis,” Diwakar said.

The state government said there was nothing to worry since they have enough stock to cater to the needs of the people. According to food and civil supply officials, enough grains for the state’s quota are available in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns that will last for three months. They said currently 4.5 lakh metric tons (MT) of rice and around 4 (four) MT of wheat are available in the FCI godowns.

Industry officials also made similar promises. Flour mill owner and former president of Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries O P Sah said 10 flour mills in Patna, which have the capacity to produce 500 tons of flour every day, are working now. “The flour crisis arose since these factories remained closed for two days after the lockdown announcement but they have resumed functioning once again. The supply will improve soon,” Sah said.

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However, the ground reality remains to be different. Although the state government has formed teams to crack down on shops selling goods at exorbitant rates, there is no improvement in the prevailing supply situation. Keeping aside the grocery shops, even green vegetables are being sold at high prices since all kinds of transport services have come to a grinding halt. However, what is causing a lot of trouble for the common man is the sudden increase in the prices of essential goods like vegetables, and the government is simply proving to be helpless.

“There will be a free-for-all situation in the state if the government doesn’t wake up soon. Rampant black-marketing of essential goods continues under the garb of corona lockdown. This is condemnable. The government must act fast,” state CPI-ML secretary Kunal said.

The prevailing situation is that people are taking to the streets and putting up blockades to protest the ongoing sale in black markets. This was witnessed in various parts of Muzaffarpur on March 26 when angry villagers protested against the sharp increase in prices of essential goods. Similar incidents were reported from Kaimur and Aurangabad districts. In Patna, a single bottle of sanitiser and an N-95 mask are being sold for as high as ₹450 and ₹750 respectively. The situation is indeed out of control.

“There is nothing to panic. We are making all efforts to ensure supply of all essential goods,” Bihar chief secretary Deepak Kumar said, warning serious action against the black-marketeers. However, the situation on Ground Zero tells an altogether different story.