After central government imposed a stock holding limit on retail and wholesale traders, district administration has begun to monitor onion prices in the state capital.
In November last year, onion prices had soared up to Rs 100 per kilogram. This made district administration sit up and take notice. It then set up kiosks to sell onions at subsidised rate of Rs 50 per kilogram. People were allowed to buy only two kilograms of onion at these kiosks set up at Bairagarh vegetable market, Bittan market, BHEL and Sarvadharm Colony. Currently, whole sale price of onion is Rs 50 per kilogram but in retail it goes up to Rs 70 per kilogram.
Wholesaler Asif Mohammed said rains have damaged crops while supply from Nashik (Maharashtra) has not begun. As a result, prices may increase more than Rs 70 per kilogram in retail. “Massive export of onions is one of the reasons for short supply. The supply in domestic market reduced from September, leading to artificial price escalation,” he added.
District food and civil supplies officer Jyoti Shah said department will take action to control price. “We have activated teams to access stock in the district. Accordingly, we will chalk out our strategy to contain prices,” Shah added.
The central government decided to impose a stock holding limit on retail and wholesale onion traders till December 31 to contain prices. The move is to improve domestic availability of onion and provide relief to consumers. The retail traders can stock onions up to 2 tonnes, while wholesale traders are allowed to keep up to 25 tonnes.
