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Centre to send 2000 tonnes onions to five states

Last Updated 22 January 2020, 02:39 IST

Saddled with huge stocks of imported onions, the Centre has now decided to offload 2000 tonnes of the bulb each to five states at a discounted price.

The decision by the Centre comes at a time as consignments of imported onions – purchased at Rs Rs.49-Rs.58 per kg – began piling up at Mumbai ports with state governments showing little interest in lifting the stocks as promised.

“As of now 24,500 tonnes of onions have arrived at Mumbai ports,” a senior official said adding that states were not keen to honour their commitment as domestic crop has started arriving at wholesale markets at much cheaper rates.

With onions having a short shelf life, the Centre has decided to dispatch 2000 tonnes of the bulb to five states – Gujarat, Haryana, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh with instructions to sell it directly to consumers or offer it in open market.

“We are considering to sell the onions to states at a discounted rate. The whole idea is to ensure that the product reaches the consumers instead of rotting in ports,” the official said.

Assam had refused to honour its demand of 10,000 tonnes of onions, followed by Maharashtra (3480 tonnes), Haryana (2500 tonnes), Karnataka (250 tonnes) and Orissa (100 tonnes).

The Centre had contracted 36,000 tonnes, mainly from Turkey, to tide over the shortage of onions in domestic markets, that had sent prices soaring to Rs 200 per kg in some parts of the country.

Imported onions have not found favour with consumers as they lack the flavour and pungency of the domestic crop.

Despite relaxing import norms, the Centre was ensuring strict quality control and had rejected 10 containers of onions as the product was not found adhering to the assured standards.

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(Published 21 January 2020, 14:28 IST)

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