Man buy 25,250 kgs of onions to travel home amid lockdown | Photo Credit: BCCL

Onions helped a man living in Mumbai to reach his family in Prayagraj, 1,200 kilometers away, amid a nationwide lockdown.

Prem Murti Pandey, who works at the Mumbai airport, was desperate to reach his ancestral village on the outskirts of Prayagraj. But due to lockdown restrictions, there was no way to reach his hometown.

He spent the first phase of the lockdown in Mumbai, hoping he would be able to travel after April 15. Later, it seemed the restrictions would go on for a while after buses, trains and flights had stopped running from the midnight of March 24.

“Actually Azad Nagar in Andheri East, where I live is a very congested area and there is a bigger risk thereof coronavirus spreading,” Pandey told PTI.

But then, Pandey remembered the relaxations on the movement of fruits and vegetables during the lockdown and realised there was just one way to reach his home. On April 17, he hired a mini-truck from Pimpalgaon near Nashik and bought 1,300 kilograms of watermelon, which he sent back to Mumbai on the vehicle following a deal with a buyer.

But to reach his hometown, he studied the Pimpalgaon market for a good deal in onions and bought about 25,520 kilograms of the vegetables at Rs 9.10 kilograms. The total cost was Rs 2.32 lakhs. He then hired a truck for Rs 77,550, loaded all the onions, and set off for his hometown on April 20.

It took three days for Pandey to reach his ancestral place, following which he headed straight to the Mundera wholesale market in Prayagraj to sell his stock. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anyone who was ready to pay cash for the onions.

Later, he took his truck to his village, Kotwa Mubarakpur, where the onions were unloaded and remained unsold.

TP Nagar police post-in-charge Arvind Kumar Singh said Pandey was examined by a medical team and has been asked to quarantine himself.

As for the onions, he hopes he can strike a deal soon