BJP leader Lanka Dinakar slams Andhra Pradesh govt for increase in onion prices in state

BJP leader Lanka Dinakar has blamed the Andhara Pradesh State government over the increasing price of onions in the region. He said that the YS Jaganmohan Reddy government should have been proactive and maintained a buffer stock. 

READ | Traders Import Onion From Turkey, Egypt To Deal With Domestic Shortage

'Should have been prepared'

Speaking to a news agency, the BJP leader said that the Andhra Pradesh government was responsible for the rising price of onions in the state. He stated that in August, in Kurnool, the output of onions was high, and thus the State should have taken stock of the situation and kept buffer sticks.

He went on to add that the government should have been proactive with buffer stock since everyone knew that Maharashtra and Gujarat, the two onion growing states, faced production issues because of the rainfall. 

On the other hand, the Central government has been taking reactive measures to ensure that the price of onions does not increase further. On Monday evening, the government's principal spokesperson, KS Dhatwalia, tweeted and said that the government had reduced the stock holding permits of onions for retailers. The tweet said that the central government had decided to decreased the stick holding permits of onions for retailers, and has brought down the permit from 5 MT to 2 MT.

The permit levels, however, remain the same for wholesalers at 25 MT. He further added that importers will continue to remain exempted from these stock limits. This is the second such revision in the past few weeks.

READ: Central Government Revises Stock Limit Of Onions For Retailers

In order to arrest the increasing price of onions, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had last week announced a number of steps that the government had taken in order to soften the price of onions. He later announced that the government has decided to import 11,000 Metric Ton (MT) of onion from Turkey and 6,090 MT from Egypt. These onions will be available in the market between December 15 and January 15. 

The government has said that the increasing prices is because of a one month delay in monsoon, which leads to another delay in sowing. This further delays the process of production and distribution in the market. Moreover, extremely heavy rainfall in certain regions such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan is said to have resulted in a 26% reduction in onion production. 

READ | Centre To Import Over 17K MT Onion From Turkey & Egypt To Control Price Rise

READ | Nirmala Sitharaman In Lok Sabha: 'I Don't Eat A Lot Of Onion'