The Cabinet Secretary Mr.K M Chandrasekhar has expressed the hope that the prices of Onion will come down quickly. He was speaking to reporters after taking stock of the situation with the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Secretaries.He told reporters that the commerce ministry has been asked to move more onions from Gujarat and Karnataka to make the commodity available in the market. Mr. Chandrasekhar added that Commerce and consumer affairs ministries have been asked to work with speed to ensure import of onions at a faster pace.In reply to a question on the hike in Tomato prices, he said it is due to seasonal factors. The cabinet is personally monitoring the situation.Government has already a series of measures to check he rising prices of onions. The exports of onions have been banned till further orders and import duty abolished.Centre yesterday asked states to take stringent action against hoarders and directed the Commerce Ministry to speed up onion imports as part of measures to ease the crisis over spiralling onion prices.Official sources said the Cabinet Secretary has also asked the Railway Board to provide more rakes for expeditious movement of onions from producing regions to different parts of the country. Due to the measures taken by the government, wholesale prices of onions have been declining since Tuesday, though the impact is yet to be seen in retail markets.The Government has directed organizations like NAFED and Mother Dairy to provide onion at 40 Rupees per kilogram through their retail outlets. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi today, Minister of State for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, K.V. Thomas said that government has taken a number of concrete steps to tame the soaring onion prices. He informed that the Railway authorities have been requested to provide for adequate movement of food products to check the stark fluctuations in food prices within the country. Talking about increasing tomato prices, Mr. Thomas said that the government is working to ensure better cold storage facilities and better transportation to check the rising prices.
News On AIR | December 23, 2010 1:30 PM
NAFED & Mother Dairy to sell onion at subsidised rates; prices on decline: Thomas