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Govt to offer onions to states at Mumbai landing price, Rs 49-58 per kg
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Wednesday, 08 January, 2020, 15 : 00 PM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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The Government of India has decided to offer onions to the state governments at the landing price in Mumbai, ranging from Rs 49 to Rs 58 per kg. This was stated by Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, at a press conference held recently to brief the media about the overall availability and prices of onions across the nation, along with the imported quantities so far.
The minister said that imports began from mid-December, and the states were asked to place their firm demand in order to get the supply from the imported stock.
The states had initially put a demand for 33,139 MT (metric tonne) of onions, which was later revised to 14,309 MT due to various reasons, including reduction in domestic prices and improved availability.
Paswan stated that one lakh MT of onions was the target, but since the onion-growing season had ended across the world and international prices were high, orders were placed strategically in small lots and over a period of time to ensure international prices didn’t increase drastically.
The Centre had planned the imports based on the initial demand, and has already contracted almost 40,000 MT of onions which will arrive in India before the end of January. So far, 12,000 MT of onions have arrived in the country, and is ready for distribution among the state governments.
Paswan added that the main concern was to protect the interest of consumers. and to ensure that, the domestic supply was being augmented with imports so that prices were moderated and overall availability was increased.
He said that there should be a coordinated effort between the Central and the state governments and the consumers to ensure this objective is achieved.
Therefore, the minister exhorted all state governments to honour the demands they had placed initially and may even go beyond their initial demand and distribute the imported onions in their respective states to ensure that prices are moderated.
Avinash Srivastava, secretary, consumer affairs, informed the media that the cabinet secretary held a video conference (VC) to persuade the state governments to buy more onions from the imported stock for direct retailing/distribution in the state to increase overall availability and reduce prices.
He said that December onwards, the prices had begun coming down which led the state governments to also reduce their respective demands.
The cabinet secretary, in the VC with 12 states, including Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, asked the states to honour the initial demand and pick up more from the imported stock, if needed, in order to curb prices.
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