Onion sold at Rs 70 a kg in Guwahati

Price rise and clichés!

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nod 26: Are not some ministers copycats? They look like, if not in anything else, at least in responding to scarcity of any commodity and its consequent rise in prices. State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rihon Daimary has spelled the same ‘electrotyped’ line unpleasant to the ears of consumers – ‘the rise in prices at sources has led to the hike in onion price in Assam’. The consumers of the State were simply fed up of this ‘harsh line’ over the past 15 years. Governments come and go, but leave a whole lot of clichés behind.

Onion is sold in Guwahati at Rs 60-70 a kg now against Rs 50 a kg till Friday. In tune with onion traders in the city, State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rihon Daimary connected the sudden rise in onion prices in the State to the scarcity of the commodity and rise in prices at their sources, apparently because of inclement weather affecting onion cultivation.

Till last week onion was sold at Rs 3,400-4,200 per quintal by wholesalers at Fancy Bazar in the city. However, the prices of the commodity rose to Rs 5,200 per quintal on Saturday. Now the commodity is sold at Rs 5,500 per quintal, and that has led the retailers to sell onion at Rs 60-70 per kg in city markets.

When prices of onion went up recently, the Kamrup (M) Deputy Commissioner did call onion wholesalers and State Food and Civil Supplies officials at a meeting and fixed the price line. The meeting also formed a monitoring committee to keep in touch with onion traders in fixing onion prices in the district. However, now the presence of the monitoring committee is not at all felt in the district. Onion prices go up in the State at the whims of traders. Taking to this reporter, a retailer of Beltola market in the city said: “Onion supply has come down drastically. We get only half a quintal of onion, that too, only after buying ten quintals of potato. Due to the scarcity, wholesalers are reluctant to give us more onion.”

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