The onion price rise has reached a crisis level with the vegetable being sold for over Rs 150 in several cities across the country.
To tackle the ongoing onion crisis, the central government has ordered the import of an additional 12,660 metric tonnes of onions, which will begin arriving in India from December 27, 2019, raising the total quantity of onions contracted to be imported so far to approximately 30,000 metric tonnes.
Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has also written to the Chief Ministers of all states, asking them to immediately conduct anti-hoarding operations which will ensure that the market is sufficiently stocked with the vegetable. The stock holding limits were also asked to be strictly enforced so that there is no deficit in onion supply.
The onion price rise has reached a crisis level with the vegetable being sold for over Rs 150 in several cities across the country.
The retail price of onion has crossed Rs 100 per kilogram in Patna.
The Centre has maintained that the onion shortage was caused by floods and unseasonal rain in onion producing states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Earlier this week, the government revised the permissible stock limits for the commodity with immediate effect.
Paswan had last week said that the government was unable to bring down the prices as it was not in its hands.
Responding to a question on when the onion prices would come down, Paswan said "it's not in our hands." However, he had added that the government is taking every step possible to contain the price rise.
The government has announced that will import 11,000 Metric Tons (MT) of onion from Turkey in addition to 6,090 MT from Egypt. The supply from Egypt will arrive in India in the second week of December while consignment from Turkey will reach the Indian shores in January 2020.
Last month, the Union Cabinet had approved importing 1.2 lakh tonnes of onion to improve the domestic supply. Exports have already banned and a limit has been imposed on stock-holding for wholesalers and retailers for an indefinite period.
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