Food Minister Reviews The Rising Prices Of Onions In The Capital

Seems like the promise made in August is being kept as the recent reports by The Hindu states that the increasing retails prices of onion was reviewed by Imran Hussain, the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies. His review team included the Commissioner of Food and Civil Supplies along with the senior officials of the department.

Scrutiny Of Onion Prices

Even though the food prices were predicted to be stable during the festival season, the capital is facing a rise in onion price.The report further states that in a meeting with the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and the Public Distribution System, the Delhi government has made a request to the central government provide financial assistance with the help of the Price Stabilisation Fund. The aid was requested so that the Delhi government could stabilise the rising prices of onions in the state through the Public Distribution System (PDS) outlets as well as the SAFAL outlets.

In the meeting the Commissioner has informed Hussain of the enforcement teams has been making inspections on a daily basis of the markets to keep a check on hoarding. However, no hoarding issue has come up till date. The meeting also discussed the high rents on the storage spaces in Delhi and that hoarding incidents are few.

The meeting however discussed the possibility of hoarding activities in neighbouring states and that a meeting should be organised with them and the Central government. The minister further instructed that the central government by informed of this issue by the department. The minister also talked about his previous decision of intensifying mandi inspections and keep a check during early hours for any incidents of hoarding. Hopefully the meeting will reap some results and that there isn’t a rampant rise in the basic vegetables prices the way it was two years ago.