As parts of India witness continuous rising prices of onions, the union government on Friday decided to release the staple vegetable from its three-lakh metric tonne buffer stock created this year.
Buffer stock is maintained by the governments to meet any exigencies and for price stabilisation. Earlier in 2022-23, the government maintained 2.51 lakh tonne onion as buffer stock.
"The quantity and pace of disposal will also be calibrated with the prices and availability situations with the objective of making onion available to consumers at affordable prices. Apart from market disposal, it was also decided to offer to the States at discounted rates for sale through retail outlets of their consumer cooperatives and corporations."
The centre added that disposal of onions through e-auction and retail sales on e-commerce platforms are also being explored.
This step was taken after Secretary of Department of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh, conducted a meeting with the Managing Directors of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) to finalise the modalities for the disposal.
"It was decided to release the onion stocks by targeting key markets in states or regions where retail prices are ruling above the all-India average and also where the rates of increase in prices over previous month and year are above threshold level," the press release said.
First Published: Aug 11, 2023 3:00 PM IST
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