Over 100 vans to sell cheap onions from Monday: Dikshit

Over 100 mobile vans, covering 600 areas in the capital, will be selling onions at cheaper prices from Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said.

"In the past three days, vans have been deployed at various parts of Delhi to provide onions at Rs.55 per kg. The number has gone up to 80 today (Saturday) and will be further increased to 125 from Monday," she said.

Later, Dikshit said she was sorry about the high prices of onions and added that her government was doing its best to control prices.

"I am sorry about high prices of onion ... it affects everybody ... we are doing our best to control the situation," Dikshit told CNN-IBN channel in an interview.

As per Dikshit, each van will cover four areas in a day.

In addition, a large number of counters have been opened outside Azadpur, Okhla, Ghazipur and Keshopur markets for selling onions at cheaper prices.

The enforcement wing has been alerted to curb any attempt at hoarding onions. Dikshit said the price of onions had "already come down and we hope the trend would continue".

According to the chief minister, the arrival of onions from Rajasthan is picking up rapidly.
"Over the past three days, the arrival of onions from Rajasthan rose substantially and the arrival of bulbs from Karnataka and other states will improve the situation. A team of officers has been deputed to Alwar (in Rajasthan) to purchase onions in bulk," she said.

With the model code of conduct in place ahead of the Dec 4 assembly polls, the Election Commission Friday gave permission to the Delhi government to sell onions from mobile vans at various sites.

Stating Delhi imports all its onions from other states, Dikshit said onions were being hoarded in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Noting the Dec 4 assembly polls were important, she said the city had changed in the past 15 years due to good governance of the Congress government.
"We will face the polls with confidence," she said.