NEW DELHI: To keep a check on onion prices in the city, the minister of food and supplies, Imran
Hussain, on Tuesday directed formation of enforcement teams to carry out frequent checks to prevent hoarding and price rise.
The minister held a review meeting with officials of his department, Mother Dairy, and representatives of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC).
In the meeting, APMC officials said that floods in Maharashtra had disrupted the supply of onions from Nashik for a few days, but supplies had since increased from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
“Officers of Mother Dairy (Safal outlets) said that National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) had sufficient stock of the product and supplies in the retail market by Safal had been increased so that the retail prices of onion do not increase,” said an official who attended the meeting.
The minister directed the APMC to hold meetings with onion merchants or associations to ensure that retail prices of onion remained under control.
“He directed to send the enforcement teams to markets and godowns for checking such activities if any. They were also directed to send daily inspection reports for the perusal of the minister.
He also asked the commissioner, food and civil supplies, to convene regular meetings with stakeholder departments and agencies to ensure that prices of onion and other commodities were stable and under control,” said the official.