With temperatures soaring, and the water supply dwindling, Delhi’s roadside paani vendors are selling water at inflated prices of `20 upwards, with a serving of attitude to top it off!
Drinking water has become a luxury in Delhi these days, what with the temperature hitting the roof and parched residential and commercial areas saving on each precious drop. Keeping in line with the capital’s water shortage scenario, bottled water vendors across the city have joined forces to give Delhiites a hard time. If you’re thirsty and you think the cheapest available option is a bottle of mineral water, think again, because the paaniwale bhaiya will pay no heed if you’re half-dead and sweating in front of his kiosk, asking for a bottle of water at the rightfully printed sale price. Don’t try bargaining, it won’t work! He knows you’re thirsty, he knows he has the upper hand, he knows water is one thing every Dilliwallah is craving in the scorching heat and he knows you will give up and pay what he asks for.
A water bottle that is clearly labelled with a sale price of `15 or `16, is being sold at anything between `20-25 in Delhi these days… And you thought you were being looted at cinema halls and upscale malls. We took a trip from south Delhi’s Saket to ITO, making four pit-stops in between to check if this was a one off incident. Be it Pragati Maidaan, ITO or Saket, the case was the same. Even at India Gate, where at least 20 water vendors stand at each exit, the prices still exceeded the print rate on the bottle.
Their excuses ranged from the believable to the outrageous – ‘garmi hai madam’, parking lagta hai and bas hai toh hai, lena hai toh lo, warna jao. By hiking the price by 40 to 80%, paani wallahs are cashing in on our desperation for a bottle of chilled drinking water on a hot sunny day. Here’s what they have to say…
What the paani-waale bhaiyyas say
Saket (Price: `25): “Aapko toh pata hai aajkal paani ke kya bhav chal rahe hain. Jab sarkaar hi paani nahi de rahi toh socho hum kitni mushkil se la rahe hain. Thode se paise aate hai jeb mein, wo bhi aap log rokna chahte ho?”
Pragati Maidan (Price: `20-25): “Itne daam mein bik raha hai. Lena hai toh lo, warna jao, waise bhi itni garmi ho rahi hai, lene wale bahut hain.”
ITO (Price: `20): “Kya kare, yahan khade hone ke liye bhi police waale paise lete hain. Unko bhi dena padta hai. Itni garmi mein khade hain, kuch toh paise kama le hum.”
India Gate (Price: `20): “Hum iss redhi ko dhakka lagate hain itni garmi mein, paseene choot jaate hai madam, aapko 5 rupaiye se kya farak padta hai? Yahi rate chal raha hai paani ka aajkal. Yahan pe khade hone ke liye parking waale nahi maante. Unke jeb bhi bharne padte hain. Toh fir paani jo aajkal itna mehenga chal raha hai, uske toh rate badhna jaayiz hai na.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com