To reach ancestral village, Mumbai man spent over Rs 3 lakh for onions amid lockdown

NEW DELHI: How do you travel from Mumbai to Allahabad when there is a lockdown? Buy 25 tonnes of onions, load them onto a truck and hit the road.nnDesperate to reach his ancestral village on the outskirts of Allahabad, Prem Murti Pandey, who works at Mumbai airport, says he did just that.nnHe spent the first phase of the lockdown in Mumbai, but then it seemed that the restrictions could go on for a while.nn”Actually Azad Nagar in Andheri East, where I live is a very congested area and there is a bigger risk there of coronavirus spreading, he told PTI.nnBuses and trains don’t run and flights are grounded during this lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.nnI realised that the government had left one way open, Pandey said, referring to the relaxation on the movement of essential commodities like fruit and vegetable.nnHis plan also involved watermelons — 1,300 kilos of them.nnOn April 17, Pandey hired a mini-truck for Pimpalgaon near Nashik, about 200 km way. There, he bought the watermelons for Rs 10,000 and sent the vehicle back to Mumbai with the consignment.nnHe had already struck a deal with a buyer in Mumbai.nnNext, he studied the Pimpalgaon market for a good deal in onions.nnPandey said he bought 25,520 kilos of onions at Rs 9.10 per kg, shelling out Rs 2.32 lakh.nnHe then hired a truck for Rs 77,500 and set off on April 20 with the onions on a 1,200-km journey to Allahabad.nnHe reached there on April 23 and headed straight to the Mundera wholesale market on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anyone who would pay cash for the load.nnSo Pandey took the truck to his village, Kotwa Mubarkpur, a couple of kilometers away. The onions were unloaded there.nnTP Nagar police post in-charge Arvind Kumar Singh said Pandey came to Dhoomanganj police station on Friday and a medical team examined him. For now, he has been asked to quarantine himself at home.nnAs for the onions, Pandey still hopes to get a good deal.nnRight now, the mandi is full of onions from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. Once the Sagar supply is over, onions from Nashik will find buyers, he said.nnSource: Press Trust of India