Amid <g data-gr-id="51">sky-rocketing</g> prices of onion, about 700 kg stock of the key kitchen staple worth Rs 50,000 was allegedly stolen from a shop in suburban Mumbai, police said on Sunday. About 14 sacks of onion were stolen from a shop of vendor Anant Naik at Prateeksha Nagar in Wadala apparently between Friday night and Saturday morning, they said.
“More than 700 kg of onions got stolen,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni said. Naik had left his shop on Friday night and was shocked to find the onion sacks missing when he reached <g data-gr-id="28">there</g> yesterday morning. The stolen onion stock was estimated to be worth Rs 50,000, police said. A case has been registered in this regard under IPC section 379 (theft) at Wadala TT police station, they added.
The wholesale onion prices on Saturday touched Rs 57 per kg at Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, Asia’s biggest onion market, raising the possibility of further spike in retail prices in most parts of the country adding to consumers’ woes.
Retail prices also shot up after the wholesale market prices of onions in Lasalgaon, increased. According to officials of revenue <g data-gr-id="30">dept</g>, the food and civil supplies department have been directed to check the availability of onions in the wholesale markets and also to report about hoarding or black marketing, if any, by unscrupulous elements.
In the price-sensitive Delhi market and some other parts of the country, retail onion prices have already gone up to Rs 80 per kg depending on the quality of the crop.
In spite of several government measures, the prices of onion have increased unabated both in the wholesale and retail markets in the last few weeks due to tight supply following <g data-gr-id="31">shortfall</g> in domestic output. Also, the likely fall in this year’s <g data-gr-id="29">kharif</g> (summer) crop due to deficit rainfall has further added fuel to the price rise.