The State government has taken steps to open 10 more farm fresh vegetable outlets in Chennai to keep the prices of vegetables under control, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told the Assembly on Wednesday.
She also said the government had doubled the amount of onions and shallots (sambar onion) to be procured for sale at these outlets.
Replying to Panruti S. Ramachandran, DMDK member and deputy leader of the House, she said 30 vegetable outlets were currently selling six tonnes of onion and one tonne of shallots every day.
The price of onion is Rs. 50 per kg and shallots are priced at Rs. 60 per kg.
Holding the Centre’s wrong economic policies responsible for the hike in the price of essential commodities, the Chief Minister said Tamil Nadu could not get adequate onions from Andhra Pradesh because of the Telangana protests in Karnool.
Every day, onions used to arrive in 70 lorries at the wholesale vegetable market in Koyambedu, but the number of lorries had come down to 55 on October 24. The next two days saw the arrival of only 50 trucks.
“Still, the price of onions in Tamil Nadu is on par with that of other states,” she said.
Listing out the measures taken by her government to provide succour to the common man, Ms. Jayalalithaa said Amma canteens were selling food items at very reasonable rates and bottled water for only Rs. 10.
She said the State government was implementing these welfare schemes with the hope that the Centre would reimburse them. “But the Centre is losing its credibility. After allocating funds for every scheme and the State government going ahead and spending the amount, the Centre has slashed its funding by up to 20 per cent,” she said.
Co-op societies to run them
With the 10 new farm fresh outlets to be opened by the co-operation, food and consumer protection department, the total number of outlets in the city will be 39.
As per the proposal, various co-operative societies will operate farm fresh vegetable outlets in seven places – Kellys Road, Kilpauk; Besant Nagar; Vazhai Thoppu, Saidapet; Balaji Nagar, Pallikaranai; Mahalakshmi Nagar, Madipakkam; Bharathi Nagar, Thiruvottiyur; and Mannarswami Koil Street, Washermanpet.
The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation will run the other three outlets in Shanthi Colony, Nanganallur and Arumbakkam.
