The government announced on Saturday that Mother Dairy’s Safal stores would sell buffer onions at subsidised prices starting from the weekend in the Delhi-NCR region. The Centre made this decision to help provide some relief to the consumers as onion prices remained elevated.
The government stated that the Safal outlets will sell buffer onions at Rs 25 per kg, starting from the weekend. At the same time, the Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association has undertaken the same initiative on behalf of the government in Telangana and other states in the southern parts of the country, reported PTI.
Notably, cooperative organisations like NCCF and NAFED are also selling subsidised buffer onions on behalf of the government. So far, NAFED has established 329 retail points including mobile vans and station outlets spread in 55 cities across 21 states, while NCCF has set up 457 retail points covering 54 cities in 20 states.
Notably, Kendriya Bhandar has also begun selling buffer onions through it’s outlets across the national capital region from Friday. The consumer affairs ministry said, “Safal Mother Dairy will start this weekend. The retail sale of onions to consumers in Telangana and other southern states is being taken up by Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association (HACA).”
These retail outlets have been tasked with the selling of buffer stock onions by the government to help the consumers and offer them some protection against the surging prices, which are being affected by the delay in the arrival of kharif crop.
After increasing the buffer stock limit for onions to 5 lakh tonne this year, the government announced that it would procure another 2 lakh tonne onions for the stock last month. As such, these measures have led to a declining trend in wholesale prices, while retail markets will take some time to reflect these changes, the ministry noted.
As of October 28, the wholesale price of onion stood at Rs 4,800 per quintal in the benchmark Lasalgaon market in Maharashtra, while the same price dropped to Rs 3,650 per quintal on November 3, the ministry said in it’s statement. Wholesale prices displayed a fall of 24 per cent in a week, while retail prices, the ministry observed, would follow and are expected to decline in the coming weeks.
Notably, the government had intervened earlier this year after tomato prices shot up during the last week of June due to supply disruptions caused by monsoon rains and white fly infestation. In this matter, the Centre followed the same strategy and procured tomatoes from the market via NCCF and NAFED. These tomatoes were then sold to consumers in major consumption centers at highly subsidised prices.