Government launches aggressive retail sale of onions at Rs 25 per kg

The Centre has taken a proactive approach to address the rising prices of onions by initiating an aggressive retail sale of onions at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kilogrammeAccording to a press release by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution this move is in response to the delay in the arrival of the kharif crop which has contributed to an increase in onion pricesThe government has set a Minimum Export Price MEP of USD 800 per metric tonne and has enhanced buffer procurement with over 506 lakh tonnes of onions already procuredTo make onions affordable and readily available to consumers the Department of Consumer Affairs has started the retail sale of onions through various outlets and mobile vans according to the press releaseThe National Cooperative Consumers Federation NCCF the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd NAFED Kendriya Bhandar and other statecontrolled cooperatives are involved in this initiativeThese organisations are selling onions at a subsidised price of Rs 25 per kilogrammeAs of November 2 NAFED has established 329 retail points across 21 states including stationary outlets and mobile vans Similarly NCCF has set up 457 retail points in 20 states read the press releaseKendriya Bhandar has initiated retail supply in DelhiNCR starting on November 3 and Safal Mother Dairy is set to begin this weekend In southern states the Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association HACA is ensuring the retail sale of onions to consumersThe government maintains an onion buffer to manage price fluctuations between rabi and kharif crops This year the buffer size has been increased to 7 lakh metric tonnes from 25 lakh metric tonnes in the previous year read the press releaseThe procurement of onions is ongoing with 506 lakh metric tons already procuredThe proactive measures have started to show results as onion prices in the Maharashtras Lasalgaon market have declined by 24 per cent from Rs 4800 per quintal on October 28 to Rs 3650 per quintal on November 3Retail prices are expected to follow a similar trend in the coming weeksThis approach is reminiscent of the governments intervention in the tomato market when prices surged due to supply disruptionsThe government procured tomatoes from producing states and provided them to consumers at highly subsidised rates significantly reducing retail prices read the releaseIn addition to onions the government has also taken steps to ensure the affordability and availability of pulses through the Bharat Dal initiative offering subsidised prices of Rs 60 per kilogramme for 1 kg packs and Rs 55 per kilogramme for 30 kg packs Bharat Dal is available for retail sale and for supply to the military paramilitary forces and welfare schemes through various cooperative organisationsTo date 32 lakh metric tonnes of Chana stock have been allocated for conversion with a substantial portion being milled and distributed through 3010 retail points across 282 citiesThe government plans to make over 4 lakh tonnes of Bharat Dal available to consumers nationwide in the near futureThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever