Nearer home, desperation manifest itself in a more violent way a couple of weeks ago. Cut up with the dwindling profit margins vegetable consumption is at an all-time low a group of vegetable vendors allegedly torched an Athwalines retail outlet opened with financial assistance from none other than the Union Agriculture Ministry's National Horticulture Board.

Surat is the only city in Gujarat where the National Horticulture Board and the Surat District Sahakari Kharid Vechan Sangh came together to open 20 outlets in various parts of the city in 1994 to check the spiralling prices of vegetables.

The National Horticulture Board gave the KVS a soft loan of Rs 16.92 lakhs on the understanding that it would buy quality vegetables in bulk from the Agriculture Produce Market Committee and sell them through the outlets. While their popularity is nothing to write home about, the stores do report good sales in some areas of the city.

Besides quality, their plus point is the scrupulous honesty, a refreshing change from most vendors.

Athwalines was one of the better-patronised outlets, according to Sangh manager B R Patel, who says its brisk sales made it the target of vendors who were losing out on sales in the plush locality.

But not just vendors; the current crisis is testing the values of the retail staff as well. A couple of them reportedly ran off with a substantial sum of money on days recording brisk sales; while others are said to have cheated the Sangh by cooking the books and reporting damage where none existed.

The fall in consumption is apparently responsible for the collapse in scruples. The Sangh has recently substituted salaries with commissions, but what with the low sales, staff is getting hard to come by. It has even closed down three outlets that reported below-average sales.

According to NHB's programme executive J B Singh, 3378 metric tonnes of potato arrived in October 1997, which came down to some 3158 MT this October. However, it was the sale of onions that was affected the most: from 2636 MT last year, it has come down considerably to 1072 MT. But despite the fall in supply, the monetary turnover had gone up, Singh told Express Newsline.