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With a sharp fall in onion prices in the retail market to Rs 30 per kg, the government today decided to end the subsidised sale of the kitchen staple from tomorrow in the national capital, but it would continue to monitor the situation to prevent the recurrence of the crisis.
A high-level meeting, which was convened by the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, also decided to discontinue the 30 per cent subsidy that the Centre was offering to farm cooperatives for subsidised onion sale from tomorrow, official sources said.
The Food Minister, Mr K V Thomas, Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit and senior officials of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Affairs ministry participated in the meeting.
“Since onion prices have started coming down in Delhi and other cities, it was thought that the subsidised sale of the vegetable was not needed from tomorrow,” a source said.
Onion prices have declined to Rs 30 per kg from a peak of Rs 70—85 per kg as on December 20—21.
“We reviewed the market scenario of onions and other vegetables. The meeting expressed pleasure over easing of prices of onions in the national capital,” Ms Dikshit said here.
The state government would discuss steps to keep a tab over the situation and take measures to avoid recurrence of such situation in future, she added.
In order to provide relief to the consumers, the Centre had decided to sell onions at cheaper rates in Delhi through outlets of Mother Dairy, NAFED, National Consumer Co-operative Federation (NCCF) and Kendriya Bhandar.
It also launched a scheme, under which 30 per cent subsidy was being provided to these agencies to cover the losses, if any.
The subsidy scheme is valid till today and the high-level meeting decided not to extend the scheme further, sources added.
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