Illegal fruit vendors on street take customers for a ride

B
uying vegetables and fruits from roadside vendors might not save your money anymore. There have been several complaints against fruit vendors, especially in East Riffa that they have been cheating the customers by selling rotten fruits.

Linette, the recent victim of an illegal fruit seller in East Riffa, said, “A few days ago I bought a watermelon weighing almost 10 kg. But it  was completely rotten when I opened it at home.” When she went back to return the fruit, the seller had vanished.

Another East Riffa resident Pauline was recently cheated by an illegal fish seller, who sold to her putrid king fish. “While buying, the fish looked good. But when I began cutting it in my kitchen, I realised that it was not good,” she said. She lost her BD5 in the process.

According to sources from the Southern Area Municipality, the municipality usually takes action against such illegal vendors with the help of Interior Ministry and Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA). “But still there are some illegal vendors who are operating under free visa,” the sources said.

The municipality has asked the locals to contact its hotline number 17761327 to register any complaints, adding that fruits, vegetables or fish being sold outside get spoiled very early in this region as the weather is hot for almost six months.

Last March, a video circulated online exposed some of the fruit vendors, who were picking rotten fruits from Manama Central Market. The 15-second video showed an Arab shouting at an Asian, who was picking the rotten strawberries at the market.

According to sources, the practice of picking the rotten fruits for selling them on streets has been prevalent in the Kingdom for many years.