A costly Easter in Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a hard blow for those who could not think of celebrations without non-vegetarian items. Fish and meat vendors in the city, anticipating Easter, increased the prices by up to 50 per cent. The prices of fish registered an increase of 50 per cent, on an average, during the past one week. The price of ‘neymeen’ rose from Rs 250 per kg to Rs 320. The price of ‘avoli’ rose from Rs 360 per kg to Rs 420 per kg. Those who regularly buy fish said that the prices of even the small fish varieties had gone up. “A week ago, we could manage to buy small varieties of fish for Rs 80 or Rs  100 per kg. But as the day of Easter came closer, the prices rose to Rs 120 or 150 per kg,” said Meera of Anayara, who buys fish from Pettah market. The price of chicken went up from Rs 80 per kg, on an average, to Rs 110 per kg and that of beef rose from Rs 170 per kg to Rs 180. The price of mutton increased from Rs 320 to Rs 340 or more. Pork also turned costly within one week. Those who bought one kg of pork at Rs 150 last week had to spend up to Rs 180 for the same quantity on Sunday.But the sales were not affected by the price rise. The non-veg lovers and those who celebrated Easter bought fish and meat without reducing the regular quantity. However, the prices of vegetables were more or less stable during the past one week, though it could not help check the price hike in hotels. “There has not been a steep increase in the prices of vegetables for the past one or two weeks, though a section of the media have reported to the contrary,” said Rajesh, a salesman at a wholesale vegetable shop in Chalai.Prakasan, a vegetable vendor at Vellayambalam, shared the same opinion. ‘’There is no price hike as reported in the media. Price of some vegetables have only seen a marginal increase,” he said.