VIJAYAWADA: Out of the 70 metric tonnes of subsidised onions that Krishna district received till Monday, less than 30 per cent was sold so far even as a kilogram of the commodity is available at an inflated price of over Rs 100 in the retail market.
“The first lot of 20 MT reached Vijayawada on Friday. The rest 50 MT of onions from Pune was received in the last two days. However, the sale is much less than what we expected,” said marketing district additional in-charge Diwakar Rao.
Rao said the low sales might be because of the pandemic as people are avoiding to go to markets. “Usually, people from all economic backgrounds throng rythu bazars. However, now only those from economically weaker sections are seen,” observed Diwakar. While the first lot was sold only in Vijayawada, the remaining 50 MT was given to Machilipatnam and other areas of the district. “We are not going to stop the supply despite the low sales volume as the demand may increase suddenly,” he stated.
Meanwhile, all sellers at the farmers’ markets have been instructed to note down the contact details of the customers to avoid black marketing of subsidised onions. “We have asked all the sellers to make a list of the customers that come to them. Also, each customer is being given only one kg per day,” Diwakar added.