Kolkata: Govt begins selling onions at subsidised rate of Rs 59 at ration shops

On Monday, the West Bengal government decided to start selling onions at various ration shops in Kolkata as well as adjacent districts of West Bengal at heavily subsidized rates. As per market sources, the retail prices of the onions have touched around Rs 164 per kg in the city and even in local markets, the vegetable is being sold for Rs 130-140 a kg. The Government has decided that every family with a ration card will be entitled to 1 kg onion at Rs 59. Over the past couple of weeks, the state government had been selling onion at Rs 59 a kg from its Sufal Bangla stalls.

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“In making onion available to people at this rate, the government is giving subsidy of Rs 50 per kg,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said and added, that onions were being sold by 430 Khadya Sathi (ration shop) dealers in Kolkata and suburbs.

A total of around 105 self-help groups (SHGs) in the 24 Parganas North, 24 Parganas South, Hooghly and Howrah have also started selling onions at a subsidized rate of around Rs 60/kg. From Tuesday morning, it is expected that 405 more ration dealers will start selling onions at the subsidized rate. “SHGs of other districts will also join in,” she said. “In all, we will be selling onion from 1,500-2,000 outlets,” said Mamata Banerjee. Each ration shop will get a daily quota of 80kg onions by the government.

Read: Tamil Nadu sheds tears as onion prices shoot up to Rs 200 per kilo in Madurai

20 kg onion looted from a State store

After the state-run Sufal Bangla store decided to sell onions at a subsidised price, sources reported that around 20 kg onion was allegedly looted from the store. The shopkeeper has alleged that as the sale of onions began in the morning, a large number of people gathered in front of the store, during which the loot took place. However, locals allege that this is all a ploy by the shopkeeper orchestrated to hoard the onions so that they are forced to buy the subsidised onions at a higher price as well. As of now, no complaint has been filed about the incident. 

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