CUTTACK: Flower shortage in the Cuttack market has become a major cause of concern with the festive season that has started with Ganesh Puja. Floods in West Bengal have affected import of flowers for the last one month. As a result, prices of most of the flowers, including the commonly used marigold and tuberose, have shot up sharply. On Tuesday, while a garland of marigold was selling at Rs. 50 to Rs.70, that of a tuberose sold at Rs. 300. Similarly, a kg of tuberose sold at Rs. 800. A month back, while marigolds were selling at Rs. 5 to Rs. 10 per garland, tuberose was Rs. 250 per kg. Flower requirements of the city are mostly met from Howrah and Deolia regions of West Bengal with at least flowers worth Rs. 2 lakh being dispatched to Cuttack from these areas on a daily basis. The figure, however, has drastically come down now. Prashant Thakur, a wholesale flower vendor in Badambadi, said there the production of flowers has been badly hit due to the rain, adding that rates have risen by 75 per cent. “There is a shortage of flowers to decorate puja pandals and neither roses nor marigold are available. Now we are using tree leaves in designs to meet the shortage,” said Amulya Pradhan, a florist in Badambadi who supplied flowers to nine Ganesh puja pandals on Tuesday. In Choudhary Bazaar flower market, garlands and bouquets became dearer. “We are using different varieties of flowers along with those in plastic to cope with the shortage,” said Ramesh Satpathy, a florist in Choudhary Bazaar. Sources said flowers worth Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 70,000 are being supplied to Cuttack now from West Bengal. “Besides, if we are ordering for a quintal of flowers, a substantial amount is being discarded due to bad quality. Whatever remains is sold at high rates,” said Nikhila Utkal Flower Vendors Association member N C Pradhan. He said as always, demand of marigold is high but this time, it is not being supplied in sufficient quantity. Meanwhile, with prices of flowers shooting up, people are having to make do with artificial ones. A majority of puja committees were seen using plastic flowers for decoration of puja pandals.
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