Skyrocketing price of onion: Minister blames it on the Central Govt; Opposition responds

Bhubaneswar: With the price of onion rising day by day and with comparatively a short supply of the vegetable in Odisha, Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak today held the Central Government responsible for the price hike.

“Price of onion has not only gone up in Odisha but also in several other states. Price rise of onion has now become like a national issue. The Central government needs to look into it. We have got the information that the Government will import onion. The price would decline only if the Government takes an appropriate step in this regard. It earlier said that onion from Nasik is yet to hit the markets,” the Minister said while replying to a query of mediapersons.

“On the part of our responsibility, Odisha Government is only keeping a strict vigil on artificial hoarding and black-marketing of onion,” the Minister expressed.

“Presently, there is a wide gap in the production and supply of onion that needs to be managed well to provide onions to consumers at fair prices. We have accordingly instructed the Collectors of all districts,” the Supply Minister asserted.

Reacting to this, BJP spokesperson Dillip Mallik said, “State government could not setup cold stores for adequate storage of onion, which gave rise to such a precarious situation. The Government has also failed in tackling the illegal activities like illegal hoarding and black-marketing.”

“They (State ministers) have become habituated to blaming the Central government always for anything and everything,” spokesperson Mallik said.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Central government has fixed the minimum export price (MEP) of onion at $800 per metric tonne from October 29 till December 31 this year with a view to managing the availability of the vegetable in the domestic market and to regulate its price as well.