Onion war: People throw stones at Vizag rythu bazaar

VISAKHAPATNAM: The situation due to insufficient onions is worsening in North Andhra, particularly in Visakhapatnam. Despite barricades set up to keep the crowd in control at Narasimha Nagar rythu bazaar, all hell broke loose on Friday as  petty fights broke out among people standing in the queue and many even pelted stones at the gates, despite police presence, demanding that the marketing officials open them sooner.

The chaotic situation at the farmers’ markets reminds one of the petty fights that broke out waiting in a beeline to collect drinking water from taps during peak summer days.

Around 25 metric tonne of the crop is supplied to all the 13 rythu bazaars in the district daily, which is sufficient to meet the requirement of denizens, officials observed.

However, as the price in the retail market is Rs 110 per kg, the consumers prefer to buy onions from rythu bazaars, where the crop is available at a subsidised rate from 7 am to 10 am and again from 4 pm to 7 pm.

In Vizag, consumers are thronging the rythu bazaars from as early as 3.30 am and stand in queue that sometimes are as long as 1 km.

“On Tuesday where the public had heated arguments with officials at MVP and Narsimha Nagar rythu bazars. Even the police had a tough time controlling the situation,” said Assistant Director-Marketing M Kaleswara Rao.