If tomatoes are expensive, stop eating them, says Indian politician

Amid a sharp spurt in tomato prices across the country, Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Women Development and Child Nutrition Pratibha Shukla on Sunday advised people that if tomatoes are expensive, grow them at home or stop eating them.

Shukla participated in the plantation drive under the UP Government's massive tree plantation program and planted saplings. Shukla said, "If tomatoes are expensive, people should grow them at home. If you stop eating tomatoes, the prices will inevitably come down. You can also eat lemon instead of tomato. If nobody is eating tomatoes, the prices will come down".

Citing an example of the nutrition garden in Asahi village, the UP Minister said that there is a solution to this inflation, plant tomatoes at home. They are expensive all the time and if you do not eat tomatoes then use lemon, whatever is more expensive, discard it. It will automatically become cheaper.

"We have made a nutrition garden in Asahi village, the women in the village have made a nutrition garden, and tomatoes can also be planted in it. There is a solution to this inflation, this is not new, tomatoes are expensive all the time. If you do not eat tomatoes then use lemon, whatever is more expensive, discard it, it will automatically become cheaper," she said.

Meanwhile, Minister of State Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Friday said that the Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily prices of 22 essential food commodities including tomatoes.

To check the current increase in prices of tomatoes and make them available to consumers at affordable prices, the Minister said, the government has started the procurement of tomatoes under Price Stabilisation Fund and is making them available at a highly subsidised rate to consumers.

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