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The Union Agriculture Ministry has suggested that district administration should be involved in procurement of onion to ensure transparency and check irregularities in the purchase process. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs B L Verma said, the Department of Agriculture constituted a fact finding committee to look into allegations of irregularities in the procurement of onions under Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). The department, vide OM (office memorandum) dated 4th November, 2024, "conveyed the suggestions that concerned district administration should be involved in the procurement process to ensure transparency and local oversight, to adopt biometric based verification of farmers, and payment to registered farmers bank account through Aadhaar Enabled Payment system", he added. Onions for PSF buffer are procured by NAFED and National Cooperative Consumers' ...
The Centre on Tuesday said the fifth bulk shipment of 720 tonnes of buffer onion will reach the national capital on November 21 as part of its market intervention to control prices. This marks the continuation of the government's initiative, started last month, to transport buffer onion from Maharashtra to Delhi via railways for the first time. So far, 4,010 tonnes have been dispatched for retail sale at Rs 35 per kg. "Another shipment of 720 tonnes, fifth in the series, has left Nashik yesterday and likely to reach Delhi by 21st of November," according to an official statement. From the fourth bulk shipment of 840 tonnes that arrived on November 17, the government has allocated 500 tonnes to Mother Dairy, 190 tonnes to NCCF and 150 tonnes to Nafed for retail sale across Delhi-NCR. The government noted that bulk shipments have significantly impacted onion prices in Delhi, both at wholesale and retail levels. Besides Delhi, similar initiatives are underway in other cities. The ...
Onion prices are expected to further cool down in the coming days as the arrival of fresh kharif crop has begun, a senior consumer affairs ministry official said on Wednesday. Currently, the average all-India retail price of onion is ruling at Rs 54 per kg and the prices have declined in the past one month after the government's subsidised sale of onion in key consuming centers, the official said. The government is disposing of the buffer stock onion in the retail market at a subsidised rate of Rs 35 per kg in Delhi-NCR and other cities to provide relief to consumers from high prices. The government has a buffer stock of 4.5 lakh tonne of onion, of which 1.5 lakh tonne has been disposed till date. According to the ministry official, the buffer stock onion is being transported to key consuming centres through railways for the first time and is helping boost the supplies. "We will continue with the bulk rail transportation of buffer onion till we exhaust with the stock and prices ..
The government on Tuesday said it is keeping a close watch on onion prices and has decided to offload more quantities from buffer stock in retail markets to stabilise rates amid temporary supply constraints. According to government data, the retail price of onion is Rs 67 per kg in the national capital while the all-India average retail price of the kitchen staple is Rs 58 per kg. "The government has decided to upscale the onion disposal in order to address temporary constraint in onion supply observed in certain markets in the past 2-3 days owing to festival season and closure of mandis," an official statement said. Co-operative NAFED has indented two more rakes for Delhi-NCR and one for Guwahati this week. Similarly, dispatch through road transport would also be upscaled to ensure the availability of onions in the market. "The availability of onions would be further accentuated by more supplies from NCCF, both through rail and road transport," it added. Moreover, the government
The government on Wednesday said about 840 tonne of buffer onion arrived via rail at Delhi's Kishanganj railway station, as part of its multi-pronged strategy to control prices. This marks the second major rail delivery after 1,600 tonne reached Delhi on October 20 through 'Kanda Express', an official statement said. The shipment, procured by NAFED under the price stabilization fund, will primarily be released through Azadpur Mandi, with a portion earmarked for retail sale at Rs 35 per kg. Retail prices of onion are ruling at Rs 60-80 per kg in the national capital depending upon the quality and locality. In a first, the government has adopted rail transport for timely and cost-effective delivery of onions across regions. NAFED earlier transported 840 MT to Chennai on October 26, while another consignment of similar quantity departed from Nashik for Guwahati early Wednesday. The government had built a buffer of 4.7 lakh tonne during the rabi season and began releasing from Septem
Delhi Food and Supplies minister Imran Hussain has directed officials concerned to take effective measures to keep prices of onion and other essential commodities under control, according to a statement issued on Monday. During a meeting, the minister cautioned the food and civil supplies department to be vigilant about the surge in prices of onion and other essential commodities in Delhi, it said. The minister directed food and civil supplies department to instruct the market intelligence unit to depute teams in markets to ascertain the retail prices of essential commodities, the statement issued by the minister's office, said. The minister also instructed the marketing intelligence team to evaluate the difference between wholesale and retail prices of commodities. Officers present in the meeting said average retail prices of onion in Delhi have been stable for some time and are likely to remain stable in the near future as well, it stated. Hussain directed the Supplies departmen
Besides Delhi-NCR, cooperative body NCCF on Friday said it will retail onion at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg in other states too in order to provide relief to consumers from the high prices of the key kitchen staple. On behalf of the central government, the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) started retailing onion at a subsidised rate from September 9 at 100 different locations in and around Delhi. "In addition to Delhi-NCR, we have increased our coverage to all states from Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala," NCCF said in a statement. The cooperative body has been selling onion online for the last two weeks through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform through Paytm, MagicPin and MyStore in Srinagar, Jaipur, Varanasi and Delhi-NCR, it said. So far, 416 vans are plying and have sold 2,219.61 tonnes onion in the retail markets, it added. Retail onion prices have shot up in the last two weeks up to Rs 80 per kg in different parts of the country