Centre can send mission to Sun, but it should first focus on onion issue: Sena

The Shiv Sena UBT on Friday said the Narendra Modi government can send a mission to the Sun but it should first focus on the onion issue in the country or else the ruling party will even not realise that their 2024 Lok Sabha endeavour will go haywireIn an editorial in Shiv Sena UBT mouthpiece Saamana the party slammed the Centres decision to impose a 40 per cent export duty on onionThe people of the country are being engaged in new missions like Moon Mission Sun Mission and Venus Mission Mission Sun is all fine but it is very much essential that the onion issue in the state stabilises the editorial saidNashik Ahmednagar and Pune districts of Maharashtra are known for their onion produce A section of farmers has been protesting against the Centres decision to impose a 40 per cent import duty on onionYou do send a mission to the Sun but before that you should ensure the onion issue is settled or else your mission to 2024 Lok Sabha polls will go haywire and you will not even realise it he saidScripting history the ISROs Chandrayaan3 landed on the Moon on WednesdayThe Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO has also planned missions to the Sun Venus and the Gaganyaan mission which aims to send Indian astronauts to Low Earth OrbitMeanwhile the Nationalist Congress Party NCP chief Sharad Pawar has said the 40 per cent duty on onion export must be revoked and also claimed that the Union government might impose restrictions on sugar exports tooSpeaking at an event in Purandar tehsil of Pune district on Thursday the former Union agriculture minister said it was the governments responsibility to ensure a fair price for onionsAlso read Maharashtra Two held for illegally stocking Codeinebased cough syrup in Thane districtFor the last few days farmers in the Nashik region have been protestingthey are demanding fair prices for their onion produce Onions from the country are exported but the government has imposed a 40 per cent duty on the export It is the responsibility of the government to give a fair price to onion growers considering the input cost and it is farmers right to demand it but no concrete decision has been taken he saidThe government did announce that it will procure onions at Rs 2410 per quintal and allow export of 2 lakh tonnes he noted adding that in view of the input cost the procurement price should be increasedIn any case the 40 per cent duty on the export must be lifted he assertedPawar also claimed that the Centre is contemplating imposing restrictions on sugar exports tooMaharashtra is the second largest sugarproducing state Brazil is the largest producer of sugar in the world followed by India Last year due to a drought in Brazil their sugar production decreasedAs a result the situation for sugarcane producers in our country was favourable and they planned to export sugar But now the central government is thinking of imposing restrictions on sugar exports the veteran leader saidIf this happens no state government will be capable of giving better prices to sugarcane Pawar said Agencies