New Delhi: Condemning the decision of the government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to limit the stock holding limit of onions, Maharashtra's BJP leader Sadabhau Khot has written a letter to Union Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal stating that the decision is against the interests of farmers and not adhering to the norms of new farm laws.
The former agriculture minister has also demanded the removal of export ban and the stock limit on onions in the interest of farmers as the prices of the bulbous crop has 'dropped' due to the export ban and enforcement of stock limit.
"The arrival of onion in every mandi in Maharashtra is about 200-300MT and farmers would suffer due to stock limit order," he said.
"Maharashtra is a leading state in onion production. In the year 2019-20, about 118 lakh MT onions were produced in the state. The government must put a ban on import of onions," Khot said in his letter.
In another letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the legislative council member Khot said, "There are reports that the government is planning to reduce the import duty of oilseeds, which should not be done. At present, the prices of soybean and groundnut oilseeds are higher than the MSP and if import duty would be reduced, the government would be bound to procure these oilseeds at MSP rate."
As per the Central government order on stock holding limit, which will be in force till December 2020, retailers won't be allowed to hold more than two tonnes of onions with them while for wholesalers this limit will be 25 tonnes.