M A I N   N E W S

Onion crisis
Govt gets cracking, raids traders, orders subsidy
n Clear bottlenecks: Finance Minister to states
n More veggie coming via sea, rail routes: Krishna
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 7
With onion crisis looming large over India, a worried government today decided to sell the vegetable at 20 per cent less than the market rate by subsidising it. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asked Chief Ministers to crack down on hoarders to ensure smooth supply of essential items from farm gate to retail customers.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, too, stepped in to tell people that Pakistan would export onions to India by ship and rail route. In his letter, Pranab told states to “urgently look into the supply management of items that are driving the current round of food inflation in the economy, in particular the local factors that are widening the gap between the wholesale and retail prices”.

While Krishna assured that Pakistan would send more quantity of onion by ship and rail route to India, there has been no word from authorities on lifting the ban on export of the vegetable via the land route (Wagah-Attari border). The ban is the main reason for the recent spike in onion prices.

Several India-bound trucks carrying 3,000 tonne of onion are stranded at Wagah resulting in prices of the vegetable shooting up by Rs 5-10 per kg in India in the past two days. Sources say Islamabad would like to regulate the movement of the vegetable for price management back home. Pakistan imposed ban on onion export via Wagah border because of reports of under invoicing, sources add. Exports were permitted via sea because it is difficult to manipulate invoicing for maritime exports, they explain.

With clear signals of cartelisation emerging in onion trade, the Competition Commission of India has already stepped in and ordered a probe into activities of traders. In a bid to rein in the spiralling price, authorities concerned also raided onion traders in many cities. The I-T Department was conducting raids at various godowns, cold stores and warehouses in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh and other major cities of Punjab. Sleuths raided the premises of major onion traders, Himalayan Cold Storage, Aggarwal Traders, Avtar Singh Jang Bahadur and GS Traders, in Jalandhar late last night. Though I-T officials were tight-lipped on the quantum of onion stock found on these premises, sources said that huge stock of the vegetable had been hoarded by the traders. Action has been intiated against these firms. Raids were continuing till reports last came in.

Onion prices have increased to Rs 60-65 a kg in major metros such as Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai and the direct suspicion is on cartels among traders for high prices. The government wants movement of onions to be expedited to cool its prices and stop the practice of hoarding.

Mukherjee urged the states to ensure that all bottlenecks in the supply chain were removed at the earliest. The minister said the availability of items that are driving the current round of food inflation in the economy should be improved so that food prices can be brought down quickly. The Finance Minister said a larger part of price rise is due to the widening gap between the wholesale and retail prices and the growing demand for these products due to rising income levels.

No tomatoes for Pak
Perneet Singh
Tribune News Service