New Delhi, July 11 - Forget about the more 'fancy' broccoli or mushroom, even the humble potato, tomato and onion are inching away from the common man's home budget. Due to the scanty rains, vegetable prices in the capital have soared so much that many families are cutting down on having more than one variety of vegetable on the table.

Much to peoples' dismay, the prices of vegetables like potato and onion, which is used in almost every meal, have increased over the last few days to as much as Rs.18 and Rs.20 a kilo respectively in the capital.

The price of tomatoes, another veggie used regularly in Indian meals, has similarly shot up to almost Rs.40 a kilo.

Sarita Das, a housewife, lamented that her monthly budget has gone haywire because of the sudden increase in vegetable prices.

'The prices are simply impossible! After a lot of haggling, I bought a kilo of tomatoes today for Rs.38... Earlier, with that amount I would have bought a whole lot of vegetables. But what option do I have? I have to feed my family,' Das told IANS.

Sarika Jain, another home maker, spoke in a similar vein: 'My husband is a salaried person and we have to run the house on a fixed budget. When prices of essential commodities like vegetables or groceries go up, we are definitely affected.'

'You can cut down on other luxuries but how can you tell your child to eat less? We now have to make do with just one variety of vegetable in one meal and try and compensate that in the next. The government must do something about this,' Jain said.

And even as they pay double the amount for vegetables, people complain that the quality of the vegetables has deteriorated.

'Either way we are getting the rough end of the deal,' Das said.