As onions get dearer, Delhi writes to Centre to contain prices

As prices of onions threaten to hit the Rs 100/kg mark, Delhi’s food and civil supplies minister Asim Ahmed Khan sought the Union agriculture ministry’s help to supplement the state’s efforts for ensuring supply of onions to contain retail prices in the market.

As prices of onions threaten to hit the Rs 100/kg mark, Delhi’s food and civil supplies minister Asim Ahmed Khan sought the Union agriculture ministry’s help to supplement the state’s efforts for ensuring supply of onions to contain retail prices in the market.

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Khan in a letter to the union minister Radha Mohan Singh wrote that unseasonal rains, which partially destroyed onion crops, led to shortage in wholesale markets in Maharashtra.

“There has been a recent trend in the upward movement of retail prices of onions and shortage has also been reported in the domestic market. To effectively deal with this crisis, the Delhi government has procured onions through small farmers agri-business consortium (SFAC) and all possible efforts are being made to supply good quality onions to the residents in the national capital at the subsidized price of Rs 30/kg,” Khan wrote in his letter.

The Delhi government has said that the Centre’s support is required to supplement its efforts to ensure that price of onions is contained.

“Government of India may accordingly wish to impress upon the onion producing states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh etc, to prevent hoarding and black marketing, which may help in increased availability of onions in Delhi,” said Khan.