The Delhi government may have announced the sale of onions in its 280 Fair Price Shops (FPS), however, in reality several of them are selling everything from grains to sugar but “onions”.
The FPS which Rukhsana runs at 37A, Laxmi SHG Narela, is operating without onions for a week now. “I had booked for supply of onions on August 17, but haven’t received any till now. 173 kg had arrived around August 12 which was sold out by August 14. I am selling wheat and sugar though,” she said.
Similar was the case with the FPS at Hari Nagar Ashram, Jungpura where Pawan Gupta had received the last stock on August 19. “There was a long queue in front of my shop by 9 a.m., whereas the opening time is 10 a.m. All the stock of over 200 kg got over in two days. I had ordered fresh stock, but people at the mandi informed that very few trucks have come. As a result, even when people come asking for onions, I am unable to provide them,” said Mr Gupta.
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The one at Harkesh Nagar in Tughlakabad could sell onions at the subsidized rate of Rs 30 per kg only till 1 p.m. on Sunday. “We couldn’t sell onions in the second half which is from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The stock came at August 21 and lasted for three days. People are getting SMSs which informs them about the nearest fair price shop according to their residence. So, a lot of people turn up,” said Manjur Ahmad, owner of the shop.
The situation, however, is not the same in key constituencies. For example, fair price shops in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s New Delhi constituency, so far, have got minimum three batches of onions already.
Not just that, people there are even getting an extra kg of onion. “The order from the government is to sell maximum two kg of onions per person. I have sizeable stock as a supply of 279 kilos came today only,” said the owner of the FPS at P-183, Pilanji Village.
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The fair price shops at Patparganj which is Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s constituency too had adequate stocks of the essential kitchen commodity. The sellers too seem to have got the government’s latest directive right here.
“I am selling a kg of onion per person and there is no dearth of it. The stocks can last for two more days,” said Nimit Kumar Chauhan of the FPS at Pandav Nagar, Patparganj.
In order to bolster the supply in the Capital, Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Asim Ahmed Khan on Sunday sought Union Agriculture Ministry’s help to supplement its stocks of the edible bulb in the Capital.
In a letter to Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Mr. Khan said that unseasonal rains which partially destroyed onion crops have led to shortage in the wholesale markets at Lasalgaon, Nasik (Maharashtra).