Sale of subsidised onion in rural areas too: Sunita

Special counters selling onion at subsidised rate would be opened in every Assembly constituency and one such facility was inaugurated by Ms. Sunita.

HRD and Civil Supplies Ministers Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Paritala Sunita interacting with people after inaugurating a counter for the sale of onion at Tagarapuvalasa on Thursday.

Two kg of onion being supplied to a family against ration card in urban areas at a subsidised price of Rs. 20 a kg will be provided to consumers in rural areas also. The facility being enjoyed by white ration card-holders till date is being extended to pink ration card-holders too.

This was announced by Minister for Civil Supplies Paritala Sunita after going round the counters selling onion in the city on Thursday.

Special counters selling onion at subsidised rate would be opened in every Assembly constituency and one such facility was inaugurated by Ms. Sunita and HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao at the jute mills ground in Tagarapuvalasa in Bheemli constituency.

Onion counters were opened in all the 12 rytu bazaars and in the Super Bazaar in Visakhapatnam so that people need not go far or spend several hours in queue to buy onion.

People need not worry about supply of onion since the crop was good in Kurnool district and could meet the State’s needs, she assured the consumers while talking to those who were standing in line to buy onion at MVP Colony Rytu Bazaar earlier in the day.

“A sum of Rs. 50 crore has been released so far to provide onion on subsidy and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is determined to supply onion at any cost till its price in the open market comes down,” Ms. Sunita said.

So far, 7,500 tonnes of onion was supplied in the State, and Visakhapatnam accounted for 1,200 tonnes.

Collector N. Yuvaraj and others accompanied the Minister.

Later, at a meeting with officials and representatives of ration shop dealers, rice millers, kerosene dealers, and consumer associations, Ms. Sunita wanted that all white ration card-holders be issued ration every month without fail, notwithstanding the problems in the ePass method, by consulting local Janmabhoomi committees and VROs.

A plan to send the essential commodities to the homes of physically challenged would be implemented soon, she said.

The Collector suggested that the ePass method could effectively be implemented if a special server, like in the case of Krishna district, was allotted to the district.

Ration is being supplied to 89 per cent of the card-holders in rural area and 73 per cent in urban area through ePass, Joint Collector J. Nivas informed.

People need not worry about supply of onion as the crop is good in Kurnool district. The plan to despatch essential commodities to the houses of physically challenged will be implemented soon, says the Civil Supplies Minister.