NEW DELHI: Amid growing pressure over onion prices and availability in the capital, the Delhi government has taken an initiative to provide relief to people. The Centre has decided to provide 1,000 metric tonnes of onions to Delhi, which will be made available to consumers through fair price shops at Rs 35 per kg, officials said.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday said that her government will not allow an onion shortage to develop in the capital. The government’s aim is to ensure adequate availability of essential food items for Delhi residents while also making onions available at reasonable and affordable prices. It wants to ensure that an essential food item such as onions does not go beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Along with fair price shops, onions will also be sold through one van each in all 13 districts of Delhi. These vans will travel to different parts of the capital and make onions available to people at `35 per kg.
The aim of selling onions through vans is to ensure that affordable onions also reach areas where people may find it difficult to access fair price shops. This will increase the availability of onions across different parts of the capital and enable a larger number of Delhi residents to benefit.
The Chief Minister said the Delhi government is keeping a close watch on the availability and prices of onions. The government’s effort is to ensure that an onion shortage does not arise in the capital under any circumstances and that essential food items continue to be available to people at reasonable prices.
The Delhi government will take all necessary steps to ensure affordable and adequate availability of onions, while keeping the interests of ordinary people as its highest priority.
As part of efforts to boost onion supplies in the national capital and nearby cities and control prices, the first ‘Kanda Express’, a dedicated rail rake carrying about 453.65 tonnes of onions from Nashik in Maharashtra, arrived in Delhi on August 28.
The onions will be sold at a subsidised rate of Rs 35 per kg in Delhi and its adjoining cities. Some of the stock will also be sent to nearby cities such as Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jammu, Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said.
The Centre currently holds about 1.21 lakh tonnes of onions as buffer stock under the Price Stabilisation Fund. The Centre has also started retail sale of onions at Rs 35 per kg in the national capital through NAFED, NCCF and Kendriya Bhandar.
Mother Dairy will also sell onions through its Safal stores. Khare said the country has adequate onion supplies to meet demand during the festive season.
