Lakhs of paan chewing, spittle spewing Mumbaiites have been paying double or more to get their daily quota of a Banarasi, Pune or Desi for over a month now. And there's more of the bad news: prices of the betel leaf, say paan traders, is likely to only rise as the days pass, plateauing around June.

Wholesale traders at Khetwadi market said the prices of Pune Paan also known as Bombay Kapuri or Pune Kali have shot up from Rs 8 to Rs 10 per sekdi (bundle of hundred) to Rs 25 per sekdi. A bad crop due to inclement weather coupled with the fact that the Pune Paan season has come to an end is to be blamed, said Bacchu Subhash Rajwar a Pune Paan wholesaler. Ranjan Sharma, a Pune variety regular, has seen his daily expenses shoot up with the paan price-spiral. ``I used to buy 25 paans forRs 2.50 and consume them over two days. Now, I spend Rs 5 for the same quantity,'' he told Express Newsline.

But it's not only the Pune Paan fans who are red in the face with rage. Even though the season for Madras Paan - the favourite of the South Indian populace - is just beginning, there is a serious shortage of it. Consequently its prices have shot up from Rs 100-150 per bag (3000 paan) to Rs 560 per bag. ``We used to get four to five truck loads of maal every alternate day two months back, now we get only half a truck-load,'' a trader said.

The Pune Paan is the reigning king in the market as far as Mumbai is concerned, followed by Desi or Bangla, Banarasi and Calcutta Paan, strictly in that order.

The Pune Paan enters the city each day from Sangli, Pune, Nashik, Satara, Chikodi and parts of Andhra Pradesh. The wholesale prices of Pune Paan have now touched Rs 2000 - 2500 for a daag (bag of 12,000 paan) upfrom Rs 1,000 per daag just two months back. Large paan stocks arrive in the city each day on trains from Orissa and West Bengal too. While the Bangla Paan prices have gone up from Rs 15-20 per saikda (90 paans) to Rs 25-35 per saikda, Banarasi which was selling for Rs 25-30 per saikda till recently is now selling at Rs 40-45 per saikda and is slated to go up to Rs 100 very soon. By far the most expensive is the Calcutta variety. Its prices have gone up from Rs 80 to a whopping Rs 120-150, said traders Ramchand and Chedalal at Nul Bazaar.

Krishna Raghunath More, who has a paan shop near Lal Baug Market confirmed that there's a shortage of Pune Paan for the last two months and as a result the price have doubled. ``The season of Pune Paan is almost over. What we get now is Madrasi Paan from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Two months ago we used to sell 100 paan for Rs 10 to Rs 12. Today we are selling at the rateof Rs 20 to Rs 25,'' he said. Asked whether there was any fall in sales due to high prices, More replied in the negative. ``Paan eaters are addicts and will buy their quota no matter what the price,'' he said.