Onions may be made available at ration shops

As onion prices continue to soar, the Maharashtra government is thinking about providing the vegetable through ration shops to keep the prices under check.

“Onions are something which people use in their day-to-day life....its a sort of an essential commodity...The government is trying to regulate the price. Soon we will find a way out.

“Despite this, if the rates become unaffordable, the government will supply the onions at ration shops in the state,” Eknath Khadse, the state revenue and agriculture minister, told reporters on Tuesday.

Onion prices at wholesale and retail markets have continued to spiral in Maharashtra and elsewhere in India in the last one month. On Tuesday, onions were sold at Rs 4,850 per quintal at Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon, the biggest onion market in Asia.

The price was, however, less than Rs 5,700 per quintal recorded last Saturday.​Also at Lasalgaon, 4,500 quintals of onions arrived at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee for auction. Imports are also expected from Egypt in the next couple of weeks to ease the situation.