MUMBAI: The burden of price rise shows no signs of reducing. A review of retail prices of everyday food items in Mumbai shows that several of them have almost doubled over the last four years. While milk cost Rs 24 per litre in 2008, the price today stands at Rs 52. Even the cost of potato has risen from Rs 8-10 per kg to Rs 15-18 in under 5 years.No wonder then, many average Mumbaikars are struggling to keep the kitchen running as before. “Consumers are paying 100% more for most items than they did three or four years ago. The prices of sugar, sunflower oil have shot up. Common vegetables sold for 25-30 per kg, now cost Rs 60-80,” says Shama Shaikh, a homemaker from Jogeshwari. The commerce ministry on Monday said vegetable prices shot up 60.97% in April compared to a 30.57% rise in March.The price pinch runs deeper though, it appears. Black pepper, which cost Rs 25-30 per 100 gm in 2008, now costs Rs 60. Turmeric that was steady at Rs 14 per 100 gm hit an all-time high of Rs 34 before settling at Rs 28.Red chilly is the new scorcher at Rs 32 per 100 gm, having risen from Rs 14-15. Cumin seeds remained steady at Rs 15 before escalating skyward to Rs 32 per 100 gm.Vinod Nair, a Vashi-based software engineer, says, “I hope policy wonks in the government realize that price rise on any front has a domino effect. If my food bill increases, the funds left for everything else shrink correspondingly. My salary, after all, is not a bottomless pit.”The helplessness is echoed by Sharmila Ghosh, a general practitioner living in Andheri. “Vegetable prices burn a hole every month in my pocket. Where I live, capsium costs Rs 40 per kg; not very long ago, the rate was around Rs 15,” she says.The public anger also sprouts from the seeming apathy of the government. Francis Fernandes, a salesperson living in Mulund, points out that a news channel was broadcasting images of farmers spreading out foodgrain stocks in a crematorium for want of storage space on Monday—the same day, the commerce ministry put out double-digit figures of 10.49% for food inflation.