Hyderabad: Tomato rice and tomato salad have disappeared from the menu of restaurants in the city due to the extreme rise in the prices of tomatoes.
Many hotels in the city that prepare tomato rice as one of the dishes on their menu stopped preparing it as the price of a kilogram of tomato touched Rs.140 in the city.
“We have completely stopped making tomato rice dishes. A decision on reintroducing it will be taken after the prices come down,” said Satish, a hotel owner at LB Nagar.
A plate of tomato rice in which green chillies are an ingredient also is priced at Rs. 70 to Rs. 100 a plate varying on the standard of the hotels. Prices of green chillies touched Rs. 150 a kilogram in the city.
“Customers are enquiring about it. We explain to them about our situation and ask them to opt for jeera rice, vegetable biryani, or any other item,” said Manohar, manager at a tiffin center at Saroornagar.
Hotel owners point out that tomato rice constitutes about 20 percent to 25 percent of the rice items prepared in any hotel.
“People opt for tomato rice for different reasons. We can’t hike the price of one particular item due to a price increase as it could affect our repute and business, so we discontinued it for the time being. People understand our situation,” said Santosh, a hotel owner at Saidabad.
Officials of the Horticulture Department in Telangana maintain the prices have soared due to unseasonal rains and heavy damage to crops in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra from where the tomatoes are sourced during May and June months.
“During this period of the year, the local farmers in Telangana sow the tomato crop. It takes between 60 days to more than 100 days to harvest the crop,” said a senior official of Telangana State Horticulture Department. Prices of tomatoes are likely to come down by the end of July when the fresh crop is picked.
| 
