October 23 — The Consumer Affairs Secretary Leena Nandan on Friday announced that in view of the rising price of onion from the second week of September, the government has imposed a stock limit on onion effective from today.
“We have imposed a stock limit on onions effective from today. A notification has been issued. The stock limit for a wholesaler is 25 metric tons and for retailers, it is 2 metric tons,” Leena Nandan told reporters here.
“As a nation, we are a large consumer of onions. Proactive steps have been taken constantly to augment the production of onions. But from the second week of September, there’s been a steady increase in the relatively stable prices,” she added.
“The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 provides for the circumstances for imposition of the stock limit under extraordinary price rise. The All India average retail price variation of onions as of October 21, 2020, when compared to last year is 22.12 percent (from Rs 45.33 to Rs 55.60 per Kg) and when compared to last 5 years average is 114.96 percent (from Rs 25.87 to 55.60 per Kg),” the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said in a release.
The stock limit has been imposed on the basis of this rise, it added.
Leena Nandan further said that the central government has also supplied 35,000 metric tons of onions to states to maintain stability in prices.
“The Central Government supplied onions to various states according to their requirements. Till now 35 thousand metric tons of onion were given to states to maintain certain stability in prices,” Nandan said. (Agencies)