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Bengal

Local residents complain over ambiguity in onion prices at Baguiati supermarket

Kolkata: There was confusion over the price of onions at Baguiati supermarket on Thursday, after representatives of the state government task force found two shops selling the vegetable for Rs 80 and 100 per kg.

The task force representatives, along with Enforcement Branch officials and police from Baguiati police station, visited the market to see at what price the vegetables including onions were being sold.

Rabindranath Koley, general secretary of Forum of Traders Organisation (FTO) and a member of the task force, said the shop owners had told them that they were selling onions at lower prices as they were clearing the old stocks. The other vegetables were being sold at normal prices, he added.

However, local people alleged that once the task force and police left the market, two shop owners hiked the price of onion and sold them at Rs 140 per kg. "They had lied to the task force and had given a rosy picture unnecessarily," said Nilabh Chatterjee, a local resident. Meanwhile, some shop owners of Manicktala and Beliaghata markets have decided not to sell onions from Friday as they have failed to meet the demand of the people.

"It is difficult to satisfy the customers as the supply is less and so we have decided not to sell onions from tomorrow," said a vegetable-seller.

Meanwhile, six trucks containing onions from Madhya Pradesh have reached the city. In the wholesale market, the vegetable is being sold at Rs 4,500 for 40 kg (big size) and Rs 4,000 for 40 kg (small size).

The untimely rain in Maharashtra has affected onion production at Nasik, which in turn has affected the market in different states, including Bengal.

However, onions are being sold at the Sufal Bangla stores situated in different markets, at Rs 59 per kg. The Agri-marketing department is selling onions at the same price through its mobile vans that are kept outside the markets at Manicktala, Beliaghata, Sobhabazar, Kankurgachi and Sarat Bose Road, among others.

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