CM says ‘no politics’ over onions, ministry official blames city government
The price spike in onions up to Rs 90 a kg in the national capital is due to ‘monopoly’ of wholesale traders in the absence of amendment to the APMC Act, said Sanjeev Chopra, joint secretary in the agriculture ministry.
‘Onion crisis would not have blown out of proportion had Delhi and some other states amended the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act by now,’ he said.
The Delhi government has not amended the APMC Act and as a result there is a ‘monopoly of wholesale traders’, he noted.
On the other hand, citing data from various cities of the country, Dikshit said that the problem of rising prices of onion is a nationwide phenomenon and not restricted to Delhi. She blamed the recent cyclone Phailin for the rise in prices.
Exhorting traders in Delhi not to make profit from selling onion, Dikshit said she would meet union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and union food minister KV Thomas on Thursday to seek their intervention in bringing down price of the bulb which is selling at even Rs 100 a kg in some areas in Delhi.
Meanwhile, opposition parties, including the city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party, blamed the Dikshit government for mismanagement over onion prices.
‘Onion crisis would not have blown out of proportion had Delhi and some other states amended the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act by now,’ he said.
The Delhi government has not amended the APMC Act and as a result there is a ‘monopoly of wholesale traders’, he noted.
On the other hand, citing data from various cities of the country, Dikshit said that the problem of rising prices of onion is a nationwide phenomenon and not restricted to Delhi. She blamed the recent cyclone Phailin for the rise in prices.
Exhorting traders in Delhi not to make profit from selling onion, Dikshit said she would meet union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and union food minister KV Thomas on Thursday to seek their intervention in bringing down price of the bulb which is selling at even Rs 100 a kg in some areas in Delhi.
Meanwhile, opposition parties, including the city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party, blamed the Dikshit government for mismanagement over onion prices.