BELAGAVI: Skyrocketing prices of onions has taken a toll on the foodies of Belagavi. In many eateries across the city, onions are not being served along as prices of onions — which were sold for Rs 20-25 per kg until recently — have drastically risen to Rs 150-160 per kg in the last few days.
On Thursday night, two customers at a noted restaurant in Nehru Nagar here picked a fight with the hotel staff for not being served onions along with biryani. The fight turned ugly when the waiters beat up both the customers, who sustained injuries and had to be taken to
Belagavi civil hospital for treatment.
On Friday, a case was registered by Malmaruti police against the two customers for beating up the hotel staff.
According to sources, the
customers Srikant Hadimani (19) and Ankush Chalageri (24) ordered biryani for dinner and were angry over not having onions served along with it. They shouted at the waiters when the latter said that onions were not being served to any of the customers after the prices shot up.
The two customers insisted on the waiters to serve onions as the cost of biryani which they ordered remained the same in the restaurant. Both of them started throwing spoons and plates at the waiters when they were denied onions. In turn, the waiters attacked them and beat up them up, according to sources.
The fight over onions stopped with the intervention of other customers and both the injured were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
According to the sources, for the first time in Belagavi, onions are being sold by the farmers at a price as high as Rs 15,000 to Rs 16,000 a quintal in Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) market. Each kg of onions was being sold at Rs 160 per kg in the market.
In 2013-14, when the price of onions had shot up abruptly, the price of was at Rs 9000 per quintal in Belagavi.