Hyderabad, January 04: Erragadda Rythu bazar is declared by the state government as a model Rythu bazar. But customers visiting the market feel it is a model for blatant cheating. The fact came to light after vendors were found selling vegetables at much higher rates than the regulated price fixed by officials.
Very little is being done by the Marketing department officials to check exploitation of customers. If a consumer questions about the difference in rates, flat comes the reply from vendors, “If you want to buy vegetables, take it, otherwise get lost.”
“I went to buy lady’s finger. On the display board, the selling price was written as Rs 26 but nowhere in the market were the vendors selling at the said price. It was being sold at Rs 30 to Rs 35,’’ said a consumer. It is the same case with other vegetables.
Even if any one decides to lodge a complaint at the designed complaint cell within the market, they only end up having a bitter experience. On Sunday when a group of software professionals, under the umbrella of Its Time To Make a Difference (ITMD) went to the Rythu bazar to lodge a complaint, they failed to find a single official to take the complaint. After waiting for more than a hour, a supervisor directed them to the Estate officer since he claimed to be helpless to solve the problem of vendors selling vegetables at inflated prices.
“We had to wait from 11.30 a.m to 1.30 p.m to meet the Estate officer Srinivas. Instead of making a note of the irregularities and taking corrective measures, Srinivas started to question us. He asked us how we activists could make inspection without taking his permission,’’ ITMD member P Rama Krishna told Express.
The activists said officials of the Rythu bazar were not maintaining any register to take note of complaints made by customers. For the last couple of months, prices of vegetables have escalated abnormally. It is learnt that despite many people lodging complaints about the illegal inflation of prices, no action has been initiated against erring vendors. The situation is no different at Mehdipatam and Kukatpally Rythu bazars.
–Agencies