1 week Ago By Jitendra Choubey
NEW DELHI: First time, the Union government has run a special train for transporting 1,600 metric tonnes (MT) of onion from Nashik to Delhi to control rising onion prices in the city. The train will reach Delhi on October 20. The fresh harvest of onions will start reaching the market by November’s first week which will reduce the onions’ prices.
The government will soon start special trains to transport onions to Lucknow and Varanasi as well. The central government has so far procured 4.7 lakh tonnes of rabi onion through the National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India Ltd.
(NCCF). After procurement, the government has aggressively distributed onions across states since September 5 through mobile retail as well as bulk sale at Rs 35/kg. To date, about 92,000 MT of onion in the buffer has been dispatched from Nashik and other places to consuming centres through trucks.
To date, the government sold onions to over a hundred destinations at cheaper rates. The government agency NCCF has disposed of cheaper onion at 77 destinations in 21 states and NAFED at 43 destinations in 16 states. These agencies have also partnered with retail chains such as SAFAL for distribution.
Besides, 86,500 MT of onion has been allotted to nine state governments/cooperative societies for retail distribution. Resultantly, the aggressive distribution of the vegetable led to the arrest of rising prices to some extent. “Average retail prices in major states like UP, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Jharkhand and Telangana have come down,” said Nidhi Khare, Secretary, the Department of Food and Consumer Affairs.
“Mandi prices in Lasalgaon (Maharashtra) also declined from the peak of Rs 47 per kg on 24th September to Rs 40 kg on 15 October 2024,” Khare added. Traders and farmers leaders at Asia’s largest onion mandi Lasalgaon also reiterated that price has started coming down. “The retail price of onion is hovering over Rs 60 in bigger cities like Mumbai and Pune while the government’s effort has also brought down the wholesale price by 20 per cent compared to the first week of September,” said Bharat Dighole, Maharashtra State Onion Producers Association.
As per the experts, such artificial modulation of price will bring respite to consumers, subsequently helping the coalition government in Maharashtra. This year the average price given to farmers was Rs 28/kg which is quite higher than previous year’s Rs 17/kg. “The higher price given to onion farmers would help the incumbent government’s prospect (in the Maharashtra assembly polls),” said Dighole.
In the elections, the anger of onion farmers cost the incumbent BJP government dearly. The government put restrictions on the export of onions last year to cool down the price. Also, the government said the supply situation of tomatoes to improve with increased arrivals from Maharashtra and MP.
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