Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday denied that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sought his explanations on the rising prices of onions and other agricultural commodities.
In a brief chat with the media persons on the sidelines of the two-day “Coop Core – 2010,” heralding the nationwide launch of the core banking solutions (CBS) for the urban cooperative banks, which began here on Saturday, Mr. Pawar said he too had only read in newspapers that Dr. Singh had dashed him off a letter seeking his explanations. “Till date, I have not received any such letter.”
“Only temporary”
Mr. Pawar maintained that the rise in price of onions was only temporary and it should start coming down to the normal level once the new crops arrived from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the next few days.
He held the climate change and the resultant unseasonal rains in large parts of the country responsible for the spurt in the onion prices. The price line in onion was usually held by monthly arrival from different States, but this year, the large scale damage to the crops in Maharashtra and Karnataka caused by unseasonal rains jacked up the prices. “The prices have already started declining in different markets and should return to the normal level in the next few days,” he assured the consumers.
Declines comment
Mr. Pawar declined to comment on the rise in tomato prices, saying he could not answer on each vegetable separately. About the prevailing higher prices in sugar compared to the previous years, the Minister said it was because the government had increased the purchase price of sugarcane to ensure remunerative returns to the sugarcane growers.
“Giving more prices to the growers to keep their interests focused on sugarcane cannot be called ‘loot' of the consumers,” Mr. Pawar frowned.
