No action on onion hoarders, but govt to open more shops

Inflation is edging up on high prices of food items, especially onions, which today touched Rs 80 per kg in most retail markets in the national capital against Rs 20 just a month ago. The price surge of the staple vegetable comes despite normal supply in the wholesale markets.

Key spot markets in Maharashtra, the country’s top onion producer, received only about half the supply in August compared with last year.

Maharashtra agriculture minister RadhakrishnaVikhe-Patil has reportedly blamed “greedy farmers” rather than wholesalers for the artificial shortage of onions in the state.

According to a report in the Times of India,a fact-finding team appointed by the state agriculture ministry did not find any evidence that APMC wholesalers were hoarding onion stocks to make handsome profits.

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Given the lack of evidence, the state ministry is planning to start exclusive onion fair-price shops rather than take action against hoarding.

“At present, the 70-odd fair price vegetable shops started by the state government are selling onion at Rs 5-6 less than market rate. All vegetables are being sourced from the APMC itself so rates cannot be different. It will be interesting to see whether the exclusive onion stalls will compete with the fair-price vegetable shops,” the report said, quoting an industry expert.

The spurt in onion prices is also being attributed to panic among onion merchants about shortfall in the produce, especially in Nasik, the main market for onion in the country.

Maharashtra is the country’s top onion producer, contributing nearly 28 percent of the total supply. The output in Maharashtra, however, plunged 15.81 percent this year resulting in a definite shortage in the market.

“Traders who have stocked onions are exploiting the market, knowing that new produce is not going to enter the market before October,” Narendra Kor, an onion farmer from Lasalgaon, the country’s largest APMC was quoted as saying by the_ Indian Express_.

However, Food Minister KV Thomas today assured state governments that it would find a solution to contain prices. The minister said he was in touch with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and authorities in other states to find an immediate solution to the crisis.

“I am in touch with states such as Delhi whether they are able to take onions from Nasik. (Agriculture Minister) Sharad Pawar will be coming on Sunday. So I will find some solution for it,” Thomas said when asked about the sky rocketing prices of onion.

A committee of secretaries is also expected to meet today to find out ways to rein in the spiralling prices.

I n Orissaa team of the department officialsconducted raids on some godowns at Aiginia and collected the entire stock of onion from wholesalers paying only Rs 1 more than the wholesale price in a bid to bring the rate of onion under control.

Across the country, people are lamenting against this price rise as the aam aadmi can no longer afford this burden.

In Jamshedpur, onions are being provided free with the purchase of car and truck tyres by a tyre seller to protest against the rise in the price of the edible bulb.

Tyre seller Satnam SinghGambhir, who is the President of the All India Sikh Students’ Federation of Bihar and Jharkhand, had made a similar offer in December 2010 when the price of onions had also risen to Rs 60 a kilogram. He will continue with the offer till Independence day and may extend it further depending on the government action to bring the price of the onion down.

With inputs from PTI