Tamil Nadu govt to procure onions from other states to cap prices at Rs 55/kg
The Tamil Nadu government will sell these onions at 42 state-run Farm Fresh outlets, at Rs 55 per kg instead of Rs 70.
The government of Tamil Nadu is trying to control the hike in onion prices. Onions are being procured from Karnataka and Maharashtra and will be sold at 42 Farm Fresh outlets operated by the state. The onions will be sold at Rs 55 per kg against the market rate of Rs 70.
An official press release stated that the Chief Minister has taken this initiative to help people buy the vegetable at a lower price. A Rs 100 crore corpus has been allocated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to control prices of essential commodities. A similar move was made by the government in 2013 to control the price of onions.
Onion prices touched a high of Rs 85 in the capital, after prices jumped in Lasalgaon, Nashik, the biggest wholesale market in Asia. Onion prices have been sky-rocketing on the back of weak produce and supply concerns. The central government has taken measures to curb the hike in onion prices, including importing 1,000 tonnes from Afghanistan every day.
The government in a knee-jerk move, also hiked the minimum support price for onions by Rs 18,202 a tonne to curb shipments and boost supply in the domestic market, which will check prices. Prices were hiked from nearly Rs 28,139.75 to Rs 46,333 per tonne.