NASHIK: In order to provide relief to common man from soaring onion prices, the district administration has asked retailers and wholesale traders to keep daily account of buy and sell transactions of their onion produce.
It has also ordered tehsildars to crack down on onion hoarding and ensure stock holding limits with a view to keep a check on increasing prices.
District collector (in-charge) Bhuvaneshwari S yesterday issued orders in this direction while chairing a crucial review meet on rising onion prices and overall situation at the collectorate here which was attended by district sub-registrar Gautam Balsane, manager (marketing board, Nashik division) B C Deshmukh, district agriculture superintendent Sanjeev Padwal, manager (marketing federation) Dileep Patil and district supply officer Arvind Narasgikar.
The prolonged rains have damaged about 80% of onion crops in the district resulting into a surge in the average market price above Rs 8000 per quintal. Currently, on an average 25000 quintals of onion is arriving in the agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) which is being traded at an average price of Rs 7800/quintal, an official at the APMC said. During the corresponding period of the previous year, a whopping 18000 quintals of onion had hit the APMCs.
This season, on today’s date, a drop of 60% has been recorded with just 7,52,000 quintals of onion produce so far has arrived in the local markets. The formation of four cyclones — Vayu, Hikka, Kyarr, and Maha — in the Arabian Sean this year, severely damaged red onion crop in major onion-producing states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
