Supply of onion to the major fruits and vegetable mandis is as usual and more importantly, export of the same essential commodity is also on, as the onion traders here believe.
Yet the prices of it has gone up to Rs 80 / Rs 90 from Rs 60 a kilo in the retail sector only during the past two days even in a city like Haldwani which is also known for its rich agricultural potential, apart from being the commercial capital of the Kumaon division. Thus, how to control the escalating prices of this essential commodity, has now become a national phenomenon. But it seems the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre doesn’t want to displease the onion lobbyists in hitherto politically charged environment at the backdrop of the 2014 General elections, as the agricultural experts here maintain, adding otherwise the prices of onion could have been brought under control much earlier.
Nasik is the major producer of onion in the country and presently the supply of onion to many parts of the country is from the same place. And arrival of onion at Uttarakhand’s major fruits and vegetable mandi at Haldwani is normal as it used to be earlier. As the wholesalers of onion here maintain, daily arrival of onion in the Haldwani fruits and vegetable mandi is about 100 quintal.
Therefore, as the traders of Haldwnai mandi inform, there is no decline in supply of the said essential commodity despite the certain disturbances like bad weather conditions during monsoon season this year. However, on account of increasing prices of onion there has definitely been a decline in demand of the same commodity. “People are buying onions only when it is necessary to make certain dishes. Therefore, we are selling onion only in a limited quantity for our daily customers,” retailers and vendors here maintain.
“As there is no shortage of onion at the mandis, so it seems the big onion farmers and cooperative societies are holding up the supply of the same commodity. Since onion is a trading commodity, therefore, the big onion farmers and wholesale traders are releasing it in their own terms,” said Sumit Haridayesh, chairman of the Haldwani mandi samiti, told The Pioneer, in an exclusive interview.
“We can only urge the people who are dealing with this essential commodity to help maintain the prices of onion. Besides, as we believe, export of onion should also be put on hold for the time being unless or until the onion prices are brought under control,” Haridayesh further said. “More so, following these developments, it seems there is no sign of relief for the common people from the escalating prices of this essential commodity for the time being,” Radhe Murari, a onion trader, said.
And, he adds, with onion going beyond the reach of the common people day by day across the country due to its skyrocketing prices, now the Central Government must step in to regulate the onion market. “leaving its fate in the hands of market forces, won’t not help the common people,” Murari said. The matter of concern is that life has started picking up threads in natural disaster affected areas including in Uttarakhand post monsoon season, but prices of onion continue to become a matter of serious concern for every household here destabilising the monthly income of housewives.
“With prices of the said essential commodity rising up to Rs 80 to Rs 90 a kilo in retail sector even in Haldwani during the past two days alone, the trading of onion has now completely come in the grip of the ‘middlemen’’ and other cooperative bodies across the country who deal in onion,” said Naresh Shyamlal, a local. But the Government seems to be little worried about how to manage the prices of the said essential commodity, he regretted.