MillenniumPost
Bengal

State govt taking steps to make onions available at ration shops from next week

Kolkata: The state government is taking all possible measures to make onions available at ration shops in the city from the coming week.

There are 934 ration shops in the city at present and the Agriculture Marketing department wants to sell onions at subsidised rate through these outlets in an effort to cater to more customers. Onion is presently being sold at Rs 100 per kg in different markets across the state.

"The Agriculture Marketing department has proposed to us that they want to sell onions through our ration shops so that more and more people can buy the vegetable at subsidised rate. We have agreed to their proposal and have informed them that we will make all arrangements to send the same to all our ration outlets after procuring from them," said Manoj Agarwal, Principal Secretary, state Food and Supplies department.

The Agriculture Marketing department, however, has not yet informed the Food department about the quality of onions or the rate.

It may be mentioned that the state government has started selling onions through all of its Sufal Bangla stalls at Rs 59 per kg since last week.

Mobile vans have also been introduced in various districts which are taking potatoes and onions to important locations of the districts for the buyers. There are around 136 Sufal Bangla stalls across the state. Potatoes are also sold at the subsidised rate of Rs 17 per kg at Sufal Bangla stalls, while their market price is over Rs 22 per kg. It has been learnt that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has also given space for mobile vans selling onions at 23 municipal markets in the city. People can buy a maximum of 1 kg onion from the subsidised outlets.

It may be mentioned that the task force constituted by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to keep a check on the market price of vegetables is also conducting raids on a regular basis at different markets in Kolkata and its adjoining areas for keeping the rates of onions and other vegetables in check.

Members of the task force are hopeful that onion prices will come down to Rs 80 per kg in the coming week.

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