Onion prices: Govt to keep close watch

Though price of onion is steadly rising in retail and was selling between Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg in the retail markets of Delhi, the government expressed confidence that they will be able to maintain a price cap and not allow low production in Maharashtra to hit capital market adversely.

‘We are keeping a tab on market and incoming of onion stock in the city. As wholesale markets of Delhi procure onion from other north and south Indian states; the low production of Maharashtra or any single state would not escalte onion price,’ said S S Yadav, principal secretary, Food and Civil Supply of Delhi government. LG Najeeb Jung on Friday had summoned the senior officers of the department to prepare a contingency plan in case Delhi faces onion crisis due to low estimated low production in Maharashtra.

Delhi consumes around 800 tonnes of onion per day which is procurred by three whole sale markets in Azadpur, Keshopur and Shahdara managed by their respective Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC). The main states which supply onion to these markets are- Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The price of onion has been a sensitive political issue in the city as former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit came to power due to steep rise in onion prices in 1998 but lost in 2013 as she could not control the price of the ‘politically sensitive’ vegetable. 

The outgoing Congress government even secured permission of election commission to sell onions on low prices in mobile vans and government outlets during the assembly elections but could not douse public anger.