New Delhi: To keep the prices of onion under control, the government announced on Saturday to import one lakh tonnes of onions. In Delhi, in some other places, onion prices have gone up to around Rs 100 per kg in the retail market. The state-owned trade company MMTC will import onions. While the cooperative institution NAFED will supply it in the domestic market. The import decision has been taken on Saturday in the meeting of the committee of secretaries monitoring the market under rising prices.
In a tweet, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said, "The government has decided to import one lakh tonnes of onions to control prices." The minister has said that MMTC has been asked to import onions and distribute it in the domestic market from November 15 to December 15. NAFED has been ordered to supply imported onions across the country. Last week, the government said it would import sufficient quantities of this vegetable from other countries, including the United Arab Emirates, to increase the domestic supply of onions.
According to MMTC, one tender floated in this regard will close on 14 November and the other on 18 November. According to the tender, the first consignment of 2,000 tonnes of onions should arrive at Indian ports immediately, while the second would be brought by December-end. The government is trying to increase onion imports from Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan through private traders. For this, hygiene and smoke-treatment norms have been liberalized till 30 November. Onion prices have risen sharply in a month due to very limited supply.
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