Onion sales in Rythu Bazaars till prices abate

Amaravati: The onions will be sold at Rs 25 a kg at Rythu Bazaars till they are accessible to people, said Minister of Fisheries and Marketing Mopidevi Venkata Ramana at Secretariat on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Minister said this decision has been taken after Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy ordered to buy huge quantity of onions in view of public facing difficulties.

The onions are being imported from Maharashtra's Nanded district and other states, he said and added so far, 653 metric tonnes of onions have been purchased. Despite the move put additional financial burden on the government, he said the decision has been taken to reduce burden on people and added marketing intervention fund is being used for the purchase of onions from other states.

The Minister blamed that some traders were creating artificial crisis by storing the onions illegally and warned of severe against those who create artificial onion crisis in the market.

He said the vigilance department officers were conducting raids on traders and storage building owners for creating artificial onion crisis. Despite the existing onion crisis in the market, some traders were trying to en cash the situation by storing the onions, he said and added the entire country was facing onion crisis because of floods that has resulted in less yield of onions.

The Minister conducted a review meeting with the marketing department officials and taken necessary steps for the availability of required quantity of onions and to regulate additional cost of onions.