Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi will hold a meeting on Friday on the issue of rising prices of essential commodities.
It will discuss measures to be carried out in tune with the Union government to contain prices, according to an official release issued on Wednesday.
Last week, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wrote to all Chief Ministers asking them to take steps to ensure that bottlenecks in the supply chain are removed at the earliest and food prices come down quickly through improved availability of items.
A senior official in the Food, Civil Supplies and Cooperation Department says that the department's efforts to make available onions through its retail outlets will go on till the price stabilises. At present, onions are being procured broadly through two sources – local wholesale traders and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED).
The vegetable, whose price has been volatile in the last two months, is being sold through 400 counters all over the State.
One-fourth of the counters are in Chennai. The vegetable is sold at two rates – Rs.40 and Rs.50 per kg.
One of the reasons for the rise in price of onions is that the crop has been severely affected in the Nashik region of Maharashtra due to rain. In Tamil Nadu too, the area, where the crop was being raised for the eventual production of 1.5 lakh tonnes of onions, was affected by the rain in November-December. The State produces over four lakh tonnes a year.
Though the NAFED had made an offer to the State government to procure onions from Gujarat and Alwar of Rajasthan, the department declined to accept it in view of the distance to be covered and perishable nature of the vegetable.
The official adds that tomatoes, potatoes, brinjal and ladies finger are also being sold.
