Just buy 25 tonnes of onions if you want to travel from Mumbai to Allahabad during lockdown
To travel from Mumbai to Allahabad, you just have to buy 25 tonnes of onions, said Mumbai man who reached home amid coronavirus lockdown
FollowMumbai: How do you travel from Mumbai to Allahabad when there is a lockdown? Buy 25 tonnes of onions, load them onto a truck and hit the road. Desperate to reach his ancestral village on the outskirts of Allahabad, Prem Murti Pandey, who works at Mumbai airport, said he did just that.
He spent the first phase of the lockdown in Mumbai, but then it seemed that the restrictions could go on for a while.
"Actually Azad Nagar in Andheri East, where I live is a very congested area and there is a bigger risk of coronavirus spread there," Pandey said.
Buses and trains don't run and flights are grounded during this lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
"I realised that the government had left one way open," Pandey said, referring to the relaxation on the movement of essential commodities like fruits and vegetables. His plan also involved watermelons -- 1,300 kilos of them.
On April 17, Pandey hired a mini-truck for Pimpalgaon near Nashik, about 200km way. There, he bought the watermelons for Rs 10,000 and sent the vehicle back to Mumbai with the consignment.
He had already struck a deal with a buyer in Mumbai. Next, he studied the Pimpalgaon market for a good deal in onions.
Pandey said he bought 25,520 kilos of onions at Rs 9.10 per kg, by shelling out Rs 2.32 lakh. He then hired a truck for Rs 77,500 and set off on April 20 with the onions on a 1,200-km journey to Allahabad.
