UPA's salad days over?

Skyrocketing onion prices have hit the aam aadmi hard and have now also captured the imagination of the Opposition

In India onions can bring down governments. The BJP's 1998 electoral loss in the Delhi polls was widely attributed to a several hundred per cent rise in the price of the vegetable.


Note of caution: Despite government efforts onion prices could still reach
Rs 100/Kg. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan

The saffron party is now hoping to turn the tables on the Congress-led UPA. With onions selling at Rs 70-80 per kilo in most parts, opposition parties seem to have moved on from 2G and other corruption issues to this more vegetarian flavour.

"The Congress-led UPA government has turned dishes like chicken biryani unpalatable. Now, chefs will have to discover a way to cook non-vegetarian items without onions. It has become a talking point all over India including in my constituency," said Shahnawaz Hussain, the Muslim face of the BJP, who spoke to MiD DAY while returning to Delhi from Bhagalpur. "On one side people of the country are paying the price for corrupt practices of the government, and on the other hand they have to deal with flavourless food," Hussain told MiD DAY.

Slice and dice
As a sign of the state of things, a day before its 'Bhrastachar Virodhi Mahasangram Rally' in Delhi, BJP served food to its workers and scribes without using onions.

Though, it seems, the government has woken up to the ongoing crisis in the national capital, but so far it has achieved precious little as far as a solution is concerned. "Delhi government has decided to crack down on hoarders in the city. But, as onion and other vegetables are perishable items, there is no law to check the menace," said a vegetable whole-seller.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said her government would purchase onions from Nashik and assured citizens that prices would stabilise in the next few days. Dikshit also admitted that there was some problem so far as supply of onions was concerned when compared to last year. Keeping this in mind, the government would act swiftly against hoarders, she added.

"The raids will start under the supervision of Department of Food and Supplies and office of the Divisional Commissioner as the city government is quite concerned about spurt in the prices of onion in Delhi causing difficulties to the aam aadmi."

Kitchen cabinet!
After a high level meeting at the Delhi secretariat, which was attended by Sheila Dikshit, Food and Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf and other officials, Delhi government decided to place order for direct purchase of onions from Nashik through NAFED to counter the problem.u00a0

Officials said that average consumption of onions in Delhi is approximately 300 MT per day; hence it is not difficult to meet the demand. There has been a decline in arrival of stocks from onion-growing states due to delay in planting because of unseasonal rains and partial damage to crops.u00a0

It was stated in the meeting that prices have already started coming down with more arrivals from Gujarat and Maharashtra.u00a0 There has been a 13.5 per cent decrease in wholesale price of onions in Azadpur Mandi as compared to the situation on Monday.

Pest control!
Dikshit said that concerned departments have been instructed to conduct raids on hoarders and take strict action against them.u00a0 The action may include cancellation of their licenses.u00a0 Further the departments have been asked to work in tandem and constitute their teams to facilitate crackdown.

In case situation demands, the government will facilitate sale of onions at reasonable prices from outlets of NAFED, NCCF, Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar and Mobile Trucks.

Root cause
Meanwhile, onion supplies further dropped by about 20 per cent in wholesale markets in the city on Tuesday. Against arrival of around 1,020 tonnes of onion on Monday, supply slid to nearly 810 tonnes on Tuesday in the Azadpur market (Asia's biggest fruit and vegetables market), said the General Secretary of Onion and Tomato Merchants Association, Rajendra Sharma. A total of 70 tempos (each carrying nine tonnes) and 12 trucks (each carrying 15 tonnes) of onion totalling 810 tonnes landed in the Azadpur market on Tuesday, he added.

Sharma said that the price of onion has dropped a bit and wholesale rates were in the range of Rs 25-50 on Tuesday as against the range of Rs 30-60 on Monday. He said that prices may come down further as government and other authorities have swung into action.

Weight loss
About 80 tempos and 20 trucks totalling 1,020 tonnes had arrived in the Azadpur market from Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat on Monday. There has been a drop in supply of onions in the last 24 hours at the Ghazipur vegetables market too. Against five trucks of onions (each carrying around 8 tonnes) on Monday, only two trucks came to the market on Tuesday, said an onion trader.

Onion prices have nearly doubled to about Rs 80-90 a kg in many retail markets in the city in the past few days.