day after vying with each other to buy onions, consumers were forced to return home empty handed as ‘no stock’ boards greeted them at the Rythu Bazaars in the city on Monday, even as the district administration decided to intensify raids on those hoarding onion stocks and creating artificial scarcity in the market.
Krishna district Joint Collector Gandham Chandrudu warned that the administration would take stern action if anyone tries to hoard onion stocks. “Acting on a tip-off, we raided a premise at Machilipatnam a few days ago and seized onion stocks. The stock that was recovered was sold immediately at subsidised prices,” he said.
Left with no other option, customers headed to the open market and grocery stores to purchase onions at a prices ranging between Rs. 80 and Rs. 90.
Officials, however, said stocks could not arrive in the city markets due to Sunday being a holiday. Considering the increasing demand from customers, Mr. Chandrudu spoke to the officials in Kurnool Market Yard and requested them to supply onions in sufficient quantities to Vijayawada.
“We are hopeful of receiving stocks by Tuesday morning. As there is no rainfall in Kurnool for the last three days more arrival of onions can be expected within a couple of days,” he said.
According to senior officials, the State government has decided to procure onions in sufficient quantities in spite of the high costs involved. “We don’t want to compromise on quality. Instructions have been issued to the officials to procure onions even if the prices were high,” a senior official said.
Plans have also been chalked out to buy onions from markets in Bengaluru and Bellary apart from Kurnool market yard and Nasik in Maharashtra, to meet the requirements.
Officials from the Marketing Department said necessary arrangements had been made to dispatch 400 metric tonnes of onions through 40 lorries from Kurnool, to different parts of State on Monday.
Acting on a tip-off, we raided a premise at Machilipatnam and seized onion stocks which was sold immediately at subsidised prices
Gandham Chandrudu,Krishna Joint Collector
